Private Payers News

10 Million Expected to Enroll via Health Insurance Marketplace

By Vera Gruessner

- The health insurance exchange created after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has garnered significant interest and popularity over the last several years. The health insurance marketplace has expanded access to healthcare services among the underprivileged populations throughout the United States.

Health Insurance Exchange

Sylvia M. Burwell, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced last Friday in an HHS press release that 10 million people are expected to be enrolled in some form of healthcare coverage through the health insurance marketplace by the end of 2016. The organization believes that 25 percent of these uninsured consumers will enroll in plan during the Open Enrollment period.

An analysis about the demographics of uninsured people likely eligible for the health insurance marketplace was released by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) last week.

This analysis also has predictions for the number of people expected to have health coverage through the exchange by the end of 2016. The released data shows that about 80 percent of the 10.5 million uninsured individuals eligible for obtaining healthcare coverage through the health insurance marketplace may also receive financial assistance through the exchange.

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    “We believe 10 million is a strong and realistic goal,” Secretary Burwell stated in the news release. “We’ve seen high levels of satisfaction with the Marketplace and expect the vast majority of our current customers will reenroll. And our target assumes that more than one out of every four of the eligible uninsured will select plans. We are working hard to improve the customer experience with upgrades to our site and more tools to help people find what they are looking for. We want to make it easier for consumers to find the right plan at the right price.”

    The estimates released by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation came from three main sources. First, the agency looked at individuals who had insurance in 2015 through the exchange and are expected to enroll for coverage next year.

    The agency also looked at QHP-eligible uninsured consumers. The last step the agency took was to address individuals who had purchased coverage on the individual, private market and are expected to enroll in health coverage through the health insurance marketplace.

    The report from HHS shows half of the noninsured individuals are between the ages of 18 to 34 with a large proportion – about 40 percent – living at a low poverty level. While earlier projections showed that more consumers would move from employer-sponsored insurance to the exchange, this shift has not occurred around the nation.

    The Department of Health and Human Services expects there to be fluctuation in the health insurance marketplace with people joining the coverage programs while others leave. Changing circumstances such as signing up for Medicare or Medicaid coverage, moving out of state, and marriage or children could affect whether certain individuals stay on their initial health insurance plan.

    Open enrollment for 2016 starts on November 1 and will run through until December 15, 2015. The first day insurance plans will offer health coverage for policy holders is January 1, 2016. To learn more, view the Healthcare.gov website.