While traffic to Healthcare.gov is slower in the early going for online benefits enrollment, at one state health exchange business so far is brisk.
Connect for Health Colorado, the state exchange for Colorado, says online applications for health insurance are running 30% higher at 1,600 applications per business day compared to a year ago, says exchange president Kevin Patterson. For the period of Nov. 1 through Nov. 13, consumers submitted 16,305 plan selections vs. 12,496 applications for comparable days in 2015, the exchange says. The 2017 plan selections include 2,648 customers who are new to Connect for Health Colorado.
“The number of initial sign-ups during the first two weeks of open enrollment are very encouraging,” Patterson says. “There has been a lot of talk about the future of healthcare since the election.”
About 170,000 consumers bought healthcare coverage through Connect for Health Colorado for the 2016 benefits enrollment season, the exchange says.
The biggest day so far for signing up for insurance online was Nov. 9 the day after Obamacare critic He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was elected president when more than 1,400 people selected plans on Connect for Health Colorado.
In contrast to Connect for Health Colorado, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that 4.52 million consumers clicked on Healthcare.gov from Nov. 1-12, 2016, a decline of 16% from 5.36 million from Nov. 1-14, 2015.
Date: November 16, 2016