In Round 2, State-Run Health Exchanges Lagged Behind Federal

Washington was one of two states nationwide in which the number of people buying health insurance through government-run exchanges went down in the second round of open enrollment, which ended in February.

 

The decline was a modest 2 percent, falling to roughly 160,000 participants — but the state’s goal had been to show a sizable increase.

 

Overall, the states that ran their own Affordable Care Act-created (ACA) exchanges grew a total of 12 percent, while those using the federal exchange grew by 61 percent, when comparing the close of enrollment in 2014 to sign-ups this year.

 

“We’re questioning why state-run exchanges did so much worse,” said Chris Sloan, a manager at Avalere Health, which analyzed the figures for a report in which the health-care advisory company examined 11 state-run and 34 federally run exchanges for which there were data.

 

But officials with Washington’s exchange, called Healthplanfinder, said the report missed a key part of the story.