Payers, Policy

Federal ACA enrollment flat as 8.3M pick plans for 2020

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service released final federal open enrollment numbers on Wednesday. Nearly 8.3 million people signed up for plans on HealthCare.gov, a slight dip from last year.

 

The number of people enrolling in health insurance through HealthCare.gov remained flat year-over-year, according to final numbers released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services on Wednesday. In total, nearly 8.3 million people signed up for Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage in 2020, a slight decrease from the 8.4 million that enrolled last year.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma wrote in a tweet that the numbers represent “remarkably stable enrollment.”

“@CMSGov’s primary goal has been to provide a seamless Open Enrollment experience for consumers who want to enroll in Exchange coverage, and the data show we have been meeting this goal year after year,” she added.

These numbers include residents from a total of 38 states, where they can use HealthCare.gov to buy coverage. It does not include people who signed up through state-based exchanges, such as in California, Colorado, and Massachusetts. CMS will release a separate report in March with final enrollment data including state-based exchanges.

This year, HealthCare.gov saw more new enrollees, but fewer renewals. Of the 8.29 million people who selected plans before the end of December, 2.08 million were new customers, meaning they were not covered through the exchanges last year. Last year, HealthCare.gov saw 2.07 million new customers.

The number of renewals dropped from 6.24 million last year to 6.2 million in 2020.

The states that saw the highest enrollment numbers included:

  • Florida: 1.91 million
  • Texas: 1.12 million
  • North Carolina: 505,275
  • Georgia: 463,910
  • Illinois: 292,945

Nevada, which previously used federal open enrollment for ACA plans, switched to a state-based exchange this year.

  Photo: EXTREME-PHOTOGRAPHER, Getty Images

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