The Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace has seen a growing number of enrollees with over 4.6 million individuals signing up for coverage since the beginning of open enrollment.
The American Rescue Plan Act offers subsidies and tax credits to individuals that help them lower the cost of their insurance premiums. This has increased access to affordable coverage as a result. Since the majority of people who live in states that use Healthcare.gov for 2022 marketplace plans are benefiting from these tax credits, this is good news for the ACA.
In total, there were 4.5 million plan selections in the (UACA) exchange and around 900,000 of them were from new enrollees while 3.6 million were returning enrollees.
Thirty-three states allow for coverage through the HealthCare.gov website, while 17 states and Washington D.C. have a marketplace where residents can buy health insurance plans on their own without relying on the federal exchange.
About 79% of the total 4 million sign-ups were returning enrollees from previous years, with an additional 800 000 joining a marketplace plan for the first time.
For the time being, approximately 126,000 new enrollees and nearly 500,000 returnees signed up for health insurance through state-run open markets.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated in the press release that the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to making life-saving healthcare accessible and affordable for everyone who requires it. “Today’s report is proof that our efforts are yielding results. Thanks to our unprecedented outreach campaigns and investments from the American Rescue Plan, millions of people across the nation are gaining health insurance with lower premiums and more choices than ever.”
Florida had the most plan selections, while Texas came in second. With nearly 1 million more people selecting plans on HealthCare.gov, Florida became a top performer during open enrollment this year and is right up there with Texas as one of the states offering quality healthcare coverage options for individuals seeking affordable health insurance through marketplaces nationwide.
While California is the leading state-based marketplace for enrollments so far, Pennsylvania has been in second place. The next highest enrollment numbers came from Texas and Georgia.
Out of the 309,584 plan selections in California, half were for healthcare insurance. Pennsylvania had 50,376 health insurance plan selections out of their total number as well.
The states of Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia saw more than 100 thousand health plans available. These states used the federally-sponsored website to purchase insurance for their residents.
The open enrollment period runs from November 1, 2021 to December 15, 2022. Every person must decide how they will receive coverage at the start of this new year- either by getting a plan on HealthCare.gov or through their state's marketplace.
Consumers who select plans on HealthCare.gov between December 16 and the January 15, 2022 deadline will receive coverage starting on February 1, 2022.
According to CMS, within the first week of open enrollment, 800,000 people made plans to pay for health care through the ACA Marketplace.
As of early November, a total of 2.8 million people had signed up for the new ACA marketplace coverage during the special enrollment period following Trump's announcement that he was ending cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers. The demographic data from HHS showed an increase in African American and Hispanic or Latino enrollees as well compared to 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Americans can save a lot of money with marketplace healthcare coverage, but it depends on the person's needs. I only meant the American Rescue Plan Act subsidies to give certain people access to affordable care and they don't cover all medical expenses.
Premium amounts can vary by location and also depend on how much cost-sharing reductions help to cover them. In some plans, they only benefit lower income individuals while in others it may provide benefits for all individuals no matter what their level of incomes are.
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