CMS NEWS: Biweekly Enrollment Snapshot

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2017
Contact: CMS Media Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS Media Inquiries

Biweekly Enrollment Snapshot

WEEKS 8 AND 9, DEC 18 – DEC 31, 2016

8.8 million Americans have signed up for coverage through HealthCare.gov since Open Enrollment began on November 1^st.  This compares to about 8.6 million plan selections last year at this time, demonstrating Americans’ strong and growing demand for affordable, quality coverage.  Total plan selections as of December 31^st, which include auto reenrollments, consist of 2.2 million new consumers and 6.6 million returning consumers. Among returning consumers, two thirds, or 4.4 million, actively selected a plan, an increase from last year’s already high levels of consumer engagement.

“With 8.8 million Americans signed up for coverage through HealthCare.gov, more than last year at this time, it is clear that Americans want and need this vital coverage,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.  “As we enter the New Year, Americans who are still uninsured should sign up by January 15^th to have coverage starting February 1.”

Today’s report covers the period from December 18 through December 31, 2016. This snapshot does not include plan selections from the 12 State-Based Marketplaces that use their own enrollment platforms. Those numbers will be included in the upcoming Mid-Open Enrollment report.   

As in past years, enrollment weeks are measured Sunday through Saturday. Since this year Open Enrollment began on a Tuesday, the totals reported in this snapshot reflect two fewer days than last year’s Week 9 snapshot, yet still enrollment exceeds last year’s total.

Every two weeks during Open Enrollment, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will release enrollment snapshots for the HealthCare.gov platform, which is used by the Federally-facilitated Marketplaces and State Partnership Marketplaces, as well as some State-based Marketplaces. These snapshots provide point-in-time estimates of biweekly plan selections, call center activity, and visits to HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov. The final number of plan selections associated with enrollment activity during a reporting period may change as plan modifications or cancellations occur, such as due to life changes like starting a new job or getting married. In addition, as in previous years, the biweekly snapshot does not report the number of consumers who have paid premiums to effectuate their enrollment.

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

Federal Marketplace Snapshot

Federal Marketplace Snapshot	Weeks 8 and 9 Dec 18 – Dec 31	Cumulative Nov 1 – Dec 31
Plan Selections (net)	2,658,210	8,762,355
New Consumers	285,362	2,205,244
Renewing Consumers	2,372,848	6,557,111
Consumers on Applications Submitted	2,445,591	11,019,382
Call Center Volume	1,652,130	8,819,983
Calls with Spanish Speaking Representative	102,731	538,200
HealthCare.gov Users	3,704,762	20,122,698
CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users	123,964	685,847
Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users	296,955	3,567,621
Window Shopping CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users	5,542	58,110

HealthCare.gov State-by-State Snapshot

Consumers across the country continued to explore their health insurance options by reaching out to a call center representative at 1-800-318-2596, attending enrollment events in their local communities, or visiting HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov. Individual plan selections for the states using the HealthCare.gov platform include:

Week 9	Cumulative Plan Selections Nov 1 – Dec 31
Alabama	166,830
Alaska	18,064
Arizona	182,881
Arkansas	66,072
Delaware	26,750
Florida	1,641,714
Georgia	482,445
Hawaii	17,447
Illinois	351,175
Indiana	167,868
Iowa	52,281
Kansas	95,664
Kentucky	70,542
Louisiana	150,826
Maine	77,327
Michigan	308,693
Mississippi	79,342
Missouri	249,732
Montana	52,120
Nebraska	85,282
Nevada	85,640
New Hampshire	50,966
New Jersey	273,210
New Mexico	50,683
North Carolina	534,293
North Dakota	20,774
Ohio	230,254
Oklahoma	140,742
Oregon	148,836
Pennsylvania	413,760
South Carolina	212,427
South Dakota	27,909
Tennessee	234,222
Texas	1,119,994
Utah	186,093
Virginia	399,106
West Virginia	32,855
Wisconsin	233,957
Wyoming	23,579

HealthCare.gov Local Area Snapshot

The Week 9 snapshot includes a look at plan selection by top Designated Market Areas (DMAs) which are local media markets. This data provides another level of detail to better understand total plan selections within local communities. Some DMAs include one or more counties in a state that is not using the HealthCare.gov platform for 2017. Plan selections for those DMAs only include data for the portion of the DMA that is using the HealthCare.gov platform, so the amounts reported in the snapshot do not represent plan selections for the entire DMA. However, in cases where a DMA includes portions of multiple states but all of those states use the HealthCare.gov platform, the reported amounts reflect the whole DMA.  Because not all DMAs are listed in the table, the amounts reported for local markets will not sum to the national total. Later in the Open Enrollment period we will be reporting enrollments for all DMAs.

Local Markets in HealthCare.gov States	State	Cumulative Plan Selections Nov 1 – Dec 31
Atlanta	Georgia	365,940
Austin	Texas	107,502
Charlotte	North Carolina	179,861
Chicago	Illinois	276,740
Dallas-Ft. Worth	Texas	316,713
Detroit	Michigan	155,477
Ft. Myers-Naples	Florida	93,298
Greensboro-H. Point-W.Salem	North Carolina	91,700
Greenvll-Spart-Ashevll-And	North Carolina	111,644
Harlingen-Wslco-Brnsvl-Mca	Texas	49,860
Houston	Texas	327,109
Jacksonville	Florida	93,693
Kansas City	Kansas/Missouri	96,358
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale	Florida	596,120
Milwaukee	Wisconsin	90,386
Mobile-Pensacola (Ft Walt)	Alabama	60,461
Nashville	Tennessee	99,482
New York/Northern New Jersey	New York/New Jersey	214,105
Norfolk-Portsmth-Newpt News	Virginia	74,401
Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn	Florida	314,287
Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	271,736
Phoenix (Prescott)	Arizona	146,177
Portland	Oregon	98,344
Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville)	North Carolina	145,810
Salt Lake City	Utah	186,104
San Antonio	Texas	101,346
St. Louis	Missouri	122,369
Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota)	Florida	278,159
Washington, DC (Hagerstown)	Virginia/Maryland/District of Columbia	177,546
West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce	Florida	183,605

 Glossary

Plan Selections:  The cumulative metric represents the total number of people who have submitted an application and selected a plan, net of any cancellations from a consumer or cancellations from an insurer that have occurred to date. The biweekly metric represents the net change in the number of non-cancelled plan sections over the two-week period covered by the report.

To have their coverage effectuated, consumers generally need to pay their first month’s health plan premium. This release does not report the number of effectuated enrollments.

New Consumers: A consumer is considered to be a new consumer if they did not have Marketplace coverage at the start of Open Enrollment on November 1^st, 2016.

Renewing Consumers: A consumer is considered to be a renewing consumer if they had 2016 Marketplace coverage on November 1^st, 2016 at the start of Open Enrollment and either actively selected the same plan or a new plan for 2017, were automatically re-enrolled into their plan, or were signed up for January 1 coverage through a suggested alternate plan.

 Marketplace: Generally, references to the Health Insurance Marketplace in this report refer to 39 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform. The states using the HealthCare.gov platform are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, 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.

HealthCare.gov States: The 39 states with Marketplaces that use the HealthCare.gov platform for the 2017 benefit year, including those with Federally-facilitated Marketplaces, State Partnership Marketplaces, and State-based Marketplaces.

Consumers on Applications Submitted:  This includes consumers who are requesting coverage on a completed and submitted application, including an application that is created through the automatic re-enrollment process, which occurs at the end of December, in a state that is using the HealthCare.gov platform. If determined eligible for Marketplace coverage, a new consumer still needs to pick a health plan (i.e., plan selection) and pay their premium to get covered (i.e., effectuated enrollment). Because families can submit a single application, this figure tallies the total number of people requesting coverage on a submitted application (rather than the total number of submitted applications).

Call Center Volume:  The total number of calls received by the call center for the 39 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform over the course of the weeks covered by the snapshot or from the start of Open Enrollment. Calls with Spanish speaking representatives are not included.

Calls with Spanish Speaking Representative:  The total number of calls received by the Federally-facilitated Marketplace call center where consumers chose to speak with a Spanish-speaking representative. These calls are not included within the Call Center Volume metric.

HealthCare.gov or CuidadodeSalud.gov  Users: These user metrics total how many unique users viewed or interacted with HealthCare.gov or CuidadodeSalud.gov, respectively, 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.

Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users or CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users: These user metrics total how many unique users interacted with the window-shopping tool at HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov, respectively, 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 HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov user total.