At 3:30pm on November 13, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services announced highly anticipated enrollment data for individuals who have selected health insurance plans through the state or federal health insurance Exchanges.
It is no secret that the launch of www.healthcare.gov and the opening of the federal health insurance Exchanges did not go smoothly for the Obama Administration. The term “train wreck,” used by Senate Finance Committe Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) to describe the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), might be considered an understatement by some after the release of this initial data. Keeping in mind that the term “enrollee” refers to individuals who have purchased a health plan and those who have selected a plan but have not proceeded to purchase it, let’s take a look at the numbers to date:
- Total number of enrollees selecting coverage in both state (14 states and DC) and federal (36 states) exchanges: 106, 185
- Total completed applications submitted from 10/1/2013 to 11/2/2013: 846, 184 (to cover an estimated 1,508,883 individuals)
- Total number of enrollees selecting coverage in state-based exchanges: 79, 391
- Total number of enrollees selecting coverage in federally-facilitated exchanges: 26, 794
- Individuals determined or assessed to be eligible for Medicaid or CHIP: 396,261
- Individuals determined to be eligible for a plan through an exchange: 1,081,592
- Individuals determined to be eligible for financial assistance: 326,130
- Number of individuals who have selected a plan from the exchange in North Carolina: 1,662
For more details on the data, click here for the official report from HHS. Do you think these numbers will improve? How close will enrollment be to the Congressional Budget Office target by year end?
