Health Care Reform

Report on Open Enrollment Week 12: January 31, 2015 – February 6, 2015


Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 11, 2015. The following blog was posted reporting Open Enrollment for
Week 12: January 31, 2015 – February 6, 2015.

Since Open Enrollment began on November 15, 7.75 million consumers selected a plan or were automatically re-enrolled through the HealthCare.gov platform, which includes the Federally Facilitated Marketplaces, State Partnership Marketplaces and supported State-Based Marketplaces. This week’s snapshot includes weekly and cumulative data for the FFM, cumulative data for states and cumulative data for certain local areas.

“There are only four days left before the February 15 deadline to sign up for coverage.” HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said. “Millions of Americans have already signed up for coverage nationwide. If you don’t have health insurance, visit HealthCare.gov – take a look at the plans and financial help available. You may be surprised to learn that the security that comes with health coverage is within your reach.”

HHS produces more detailed reports that look at plan selection across the Federally Facilitated Marketplace and State-Based Marketplaces on a monthly basis. Weekly snapshots do not include the consumers who visited, called, shopped or selected a plan through a State-Based Marketplace.

The Open Enrollment snapshots for the Federally Facilitated Marketplace provide point-in-time estimates for weekly data. These are preliminary numbers and could fluctuate based on consumers changing or canceling plans or having a change in status such as new job or marriage. The snapshots also include totals from the beginning of the 2015 Open Enrollment period, which started November 15, 2014. Note that data revisions may mean that the weekly totals do not sum to the cumulative numbers.

Definitions and details on the data are included in the glossary.

Federal Marketplace Snapshot

Consumers across the country continue to reach out to in-person assisters or call center representatives at 1-800-318-2596 and visit HealthCare.gov or CuidadodeSalud.gov to learn about their plan options, to find out what financial help is available, and to select the plan that best meets their financial and health needs.

Federal Marketplace Snapshot

Week 12

Cumulative

Jan 31 – Feb 6

Nov 15 – Feb 6

Plan Selections

275,676

7,749,375

Applications Submitted

520,630

10,645,402

Call Center Volume

1,004,340

12,123,688

Average Call Center Wait Time

4 minutes 56 seconds

6 minutes 24 seconds

Calls with Spanish Speaking Representative

122,292

1,106,148

Average Wait for Spanish Speaking Rep

22 seconds

21 seconds

HealthCare.gov Users

3,137,807

27,552,399

CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users

129,877

1,104,801

Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users

611,597

8,230,929

Window Shopping CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users

31,766

220,975

HealthCare.gov State-by-State Snapshot

The Week 12 Snapshot provides cumulative individual plan selections for the states using the HealthCare.gov platform. States with the fastest rate of growth between Week 11 and Week 12 are Louisiana (6 percent), Nevada (6 percent), Mississippi (5 percent), Texas (5 percent) and South Carolina (5 percent). 

HealthCare.gov States

Cumulative Plan Selections

Nov 15 – Feb 6

Alabama

148,616

Alaska

18,171

Arizona

180,113

Arkansas

58,878

Delaware

22,036

Florida

1,393,068

Georgia

468,464

Illinois

305,570

Indiana

198,635

Iowa

39,675

Kansas

85,872

Louisiana

157,900

Maine

66,118

Michigan

311,246

Mississippi

91,723

Missouri

226,702

Montana

49,575

Nebraska

66,091

Nevada

59,623

New Hampshire

48,447

New Jersey

222,640

New Mexico

45,891

North Carolina

496,330

North Dakota

16,426

Ohio

208,602

Oklahoma

109,758

Oregon

97,489

Pennsylvania

438,488

South Carolina

180,373

South Dakota

19,098

Tennessee

200,905

Texas

1,015,772

Utah

124,142

Virginia

341,039

West Virginia

29,515

Wisconsin

187,314

Wyoming

19,070

HealthCare.gov Local Area Snapshot

The Week 12 snapshot includes a look at plan section by selected Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). This localized data provides another level of detail to better understand total plan selections within local communities ahead of the February 15 deadline. Eight of the MSAs include one or more counties in states that are not using the HealthCare.gov platform in 2015. Plan selections for those MSAs only include data for the portions of these areas that are using the HealthCare.gov platform, so the cumulative totals in the snapshot do not represent plan selections for the entire MSA. The affected areas are italicized below, and additional information is included in the glossary. Only MSAs with a minimum population of about 725,000 and at least one county in the 37 states using the HealthCare.gov platform are included in the Local Area Snapshot.
 
Those areas showing the fastest rate of growth between Week 11 and Week 12 include El Paso, TX (7 percent), Baton Rouge, LA (7 percent), McAllen, TX (7 percent) and Las Vegas, NV (6 percent).
 

Local Areas in HealthCare.gov States

Cumulative Plan Selections

Nov 15 – Feb 6

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL

661,917

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

309,308

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

289,047

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

269,298

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

248,811

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

(PA, NJ, and DE portions of MSA only) 

228,662

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

(NJ and PA portions of MSA only)

168,884

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL

167,967

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

149,493

Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI

142,470

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

(VA and WV portions of MSA only)

133,977

Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC

127,305

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

123,158

St. Louis, MO-IL 

100,084

San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX

94,166

Austin-Round Rock, TX

87,876

Kansas City, MO-KS

76,512

Pittsburgh, PA

73,027

Jacksonville, FL

70,223

Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN

66,903

Raleigh, NC 

61,986

Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN

60,080

Richmond, VA 

57,070

Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC

55,996

New Orleans-Metairie, LA

54,748

Salt Lake City, UT

47,992

Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI

46,393

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

(OR portion of MSA only)

45,979

Oklahoma City, OK

44,287

Cleveland-Elyria, OH

42,963

El Paso, TX

43,825

Greensboro-High Point, NC

40,109

Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV

40,961

North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL

38,081

Memphis, TN-MS-AR

38,040

Birmingham-Hoover, AL

34,439

Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, SC

34,201

Columbus, OH 

33,890

Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN

(OH and IN portions of MSA only)

33,314

Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI

30,484

Baton Rouge, LA

31,413

Tucson, AZ

27,904

Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ

27,999

Tulsa, OK

27,788

Knoxville, TN

26,180

Columbia, SC

27,585

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX

27,884

Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA

24,720

Albuquerque, NM

19,542

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

(NH portion of MSA only)

15,484

Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR

14,220

Dayton, OH

12,570

Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN

(IN portion of MSA only)

6,994

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI

(WI portion of MSA only)

3,766

Glossary

Plan Selections:  The weekly and cumulative metrics provide a preliminary total of those who have submitted an application and selected the plan that best fits their needs. In addition, totals now include those consumers who were automatically re-enrolled into their current plan or a plan with similar benefits. As noted previously, these numbers fluctuate based on consumers changing or canceling plans or having a change in status such as a new job or marriage; changes for the entire open enrollment period are reflected in the most recent weekly and cumulative metrics.

To have their coverage effectuated, consumers need to pay their first month’s health plan premium. This release does not include effectuated enrollment.

All references to the Marketplace in this report refer to 35 states that are states that used the HealthCare.gov platform in both 2014 and 2015 and Oregon and Nevada, which are new to the FFM platform in 2015. Those states include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Applications Submitted:  A consumer who has completed an application and submitted it or who through the automatic enrollment process had an application submitted to the Federally Facilitated Marketplace. If determined eligible for Marketplace coverage, the consumer still needs to pick a health plan that best fits their financial and health needs and pay their premium to get covered. Because families can submit a single application, this figure tallies each person covered by an application. The weekly and cumulative metrics total the number of people who have submitted an application.

Call Center Volume:  The total number of calls received by the Federally-Facilitated Marketplace call center over the course of a week or from the start of Open Enrollment.

Calls with Spanish Speaking Representative:  The total number of calls received by the call center where consumers chose to speak with a Spanish-speaking representative. These calls are not included within the call center volume.

Average Call Center Wait Time: The average amount of time a consumer waited before reaching a customer service representative. The cumulative total averages wait time over the course of the extended time period.

HealthCare.gov or CuidadodeSalud.gov Users: The user metric totals how many unique users viewed or interacted with either  or  over the course of a specific date range. For cumulative totals, a separate report is run for the entire Open Enrollment period to minimize users being counted more than once during that longer range of time and to provide a more accurate estimate of unique users. Depending on an individual’s browser settings and browsing habits, a visitor may be counted as a unique user more than once. Note: in reporting from the last open enrollment period “users” was reported as “unique visitors”.

Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users or CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users: The user metric totals how many unique users interacted with the window-shopping tool over the course of a specific date range. For cumulative totals, a separate report is run for the entire Open Enrollment period to minimize users being counted more than once during that longer range of time and to provide a more accurate estimate of unique users. Depending on an individual’s browser settings and browsing habits, a visitor may be counted as a unique user more than once. Users who window-shopped are also included in the total  or  user total. Note: in reporting from the last open enrollment period “users” was reported as “unique visitors”.

HealthCare.gov States: The 37 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform, including the Federally-facilitated Marketplace, State Partnership Marketplaces or supported State-based Marketplaces.

Local Areas: Cumulative plan selections in the Local Area snapshot are based on Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). MSAs are geographic areas designated by the Office of Management and Budget and have populations of at least 50,000. Many MSAs include portions of more than one state.  Only data from the portions of the MSA using the HealthCare.gov platform are considered for those MSAs which include some areas that are not using the HealthCare.gov platform.  For example, the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area only includes plan selections made in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The 54 MSAs included in the Week 12 snapshot are for those MSAs with populations around 725,000 or higher.  There are an additional 21 MSAs with populations higher than 725,000 that lie entirely within a state that is not using the HealthCare.gov platform for 2015.

Source: hhs.gov


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