More consumers bought health insurance through Healthcare.gov during the recent enrollment period than did so last year, and on average they paid a lower annual deductible, according to newly issued statistics from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The percentage receiving government aid in buying a policy declined slightly, says the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services operates Healthcare.gov.
For the enrollment period that began Oct. 31, 2015 and ended Feb. 29, 11.1 million consumers used Healthcare.gov to research and buy health insurance, an increase of 8.8% over the previous year’s enrollment total of 10.2 million consumers.
Of those who signed up during the recent enrollment period, 84.7%, or about 9.4 million consumers, received a subsidy. That subsidy usually took the form of a tax credit to buy health insurance online through the federal government e-commerce site for health insurance. That rate is down slightly from the 2015 open enrollment season, during which 8.7 million consumers, or 85.3% of enrollees, received a subsidy. The average subsidy for the latest enrollment season was $291 per month, or $3,492 annually, vs. $272 per month $3,264 per year for 2015.
A year-over-year comparison also shows that the average annual deductible for a health insurance policy bought online on Healthcare.gov declined slightly to $850 from $900, according to the federal government. The range of coverage for preventive health measures paid for entirely by the insurer such as for cancer screenings and immunizations, for a policy bought online at Healthcare.gov is on par with the same coverage offer by traditional employer-paid health benefits, says the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“On average, Healthcare.gov Marketplace policies cover seven services before the deductible, and approximately a third of Healthcare.gov Marketplace enrollees have policies that cover at least ten services before the deductible,” says Healthcare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan.
Additional metrics on how Healthcare.gov is performing include:
- Earlier sign-up. About 60% of new enrollees in Healthcare.gov states signed up for coverage beginning Jan. 1 coverage compared to about 40% of new enrollees in the previous year. “Instead of waiting until the last moment, as we saw in previous years, people signed up for coverage by the first deadline because they wanted coverage to start as soon as possible,” Counihan says.
- Use of web site tools. More than 3.6 million people used the total cost calculator or provider or drug look-up tools on Healthcare.gov.
- Younger consumers are buying insurance online. 2.7 million consumers ages 18 to 34 signed up for coverage via Healthcare.gov. No figures were available for the previous year.
“Marketplace insurance is something Americans want and need,” says U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell.
But given its relatively short history Healthcare.gov still has its work cut out convincing consumers and the healthcare industry it can operate consistently and reliably as the biggest web-based health insurance enrollment system, say healthcare e-commerce technology executives.
“Healthcare.gov needs to get better at a lot of things,” says Joe Donlan, senior vice president at Connecture, which operates a private healthcare exchange. “Healthcare.gov is high profile and has the ability to really impact how people now and going forward will be shopping for health insurance.”
Date: August 03, 2016