ALBANY — More than 908,500 residents have fully enrolled in New York’s health-care exchange and more than 1.2 million residents have completed applications since Oct. 1, the state Health Department said Monday.
The enrollment deadline was March 31, but residents who began the steps to apply for coverage before March 31 and were unable to complete the enrollment process will be allowed to apply through April 15.
In the last week alone, 43,085 residents have fully enrolled for coverage, the health department said. Of the total enrollment, 486,689 entered into Medicaid and 421,883 entered into private plans.
On March 10, the state had 590,639 residents fully enrolled, an increase of 54 percent.
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“The success of the marketplace in year one continues, and we’re thrilled that more than 908,000 New Yorkers have enrolled in quality, low-cost insurance,” Donna Frescatore, executive director of NY State of Health, said in a statement. “As we approach the April 15 deadline for those who started their applications by March 31, we will continue to help individuals across the state to access the insurance coverage they need.”
The state said more than 70 percent of residents who enrolled were uninsured at the time of application.
In late March, the state said about 100,000 New Yorkers received cancellation notices since the Affordable Care Act took effect because their plans didn’t comply with the law, though most were eligible for cheaper plans through the exchange. About 88,000 of those were insured through Healthy NY, a partnership between the state and private insurers that is no longer available to individuals or sole proprietors.
The Health Department had initially hoped to reach its goal of 1.1 million people enrolled by the end of 2016, but it nearly reached that in the first year.
The state’s health-care exchange had a rocky start when the site was overrun with visits, but New York runs its own exchange and didn’t have the long-term problems that the federal exchange website experienced.
Individual and families who get married, divorced, gain a dependent or lose employer insurance will qualify for a special enrollment period and will be allowed to enroll until the end of 2014.
Date: Apr 7, 2014