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Health Exchange Enrollment Surged in November

Enrollment dramatically increased on both the federal and state-based online insurance marketplaces, but the state-based sites are still far outpacing the federal one.

The number of people selecting health insurance plans in the federal exchange and state-based marketplaces more than doubled in November, the second month of operation, according to data released Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Plan selections in state-based exchanges are still far outpacing the federal marketplace that serves most states, but November’s 110,410 selections in the federal exchange far exceeded October’s 26,794. Total plan selections in the federal exchange through November stand at 137,204, and recent media reports show enrollment has accelerated further since Dec. 1, the date when the Obama administration promised the federal web site would run smoothly for the “vast majority of users.” 

The 14 state-run marketplaces and the federal exchange that serves the 36 other states allow people without affordable coverage through their employer to shop for a health plan, often with tax credits if their income is low enough. The state-run exchanges signed up 148,087 people in November, up from 79,391 in October. 

The total sign ups after two months, between both the federal and state-run exchanges, is 364,682. The exchanges signed up a combined 106,000 people in October. Those numbers include people who have received determinations of eligibility for subsidies and actually selected an insurance plan but not necessarily paid premiums for the first month starting January 2014.

 Other key figures and notes of interest after two months of enrollment:

• 1.9 million people are eligible for a plan on the exchange, which mostly serves people without health plans offered through employers, but have not yet selected one. 

• 803,077 individuals (26 percent of people who have been processed for eligibility) qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

• 39.1 million people have visited the federal and state-run marketplaces. 

• HHS still has not provided demographic information. Experts view sign ups by young people as critical to stabilizing premiums because they’re healthier. 

You can view the full report here

Chris covers health care for GOVERNING. An Ohio native with an interest in education, he set out for New Orleans with Teach For America after finishing a degree at Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. He later covered government and politics at the Savannah Morning News and its South Carolina paper. He most recently covered North Carolina’s 2013 legislative session for the Associated Press.
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