Wednesday, January 28, 2015

U.S. says 9.5 mln people enroll for 2015 insurance, beating goal

(Reuters) - More than 9.5 million people have signed up for 2015 individual health insurance on the new exchanges created under the national healthcare reform law, the U.S. government said on Tuesday, beating its enrollment target weeks before the deadline.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that it had signed up or automatically enrolled more than 7.1 million people on its HealthCare.gov website through Jan. 16. The federally run site covers 37 states.

Another 2.4 million people selected a plan or were automatically enrolled in the other 13 states plus Washington D.C., which run their own websites. That data is through Jan. 18 for California and through Jan. 17 for the District and the other states.

HHS had set a target of at least 9.1 million enrollees for 2015 coverage. The enrollment period opened on Nov. 15 and ends on Feb. 15.

Eighty-seven percent of federal marketplace applicants used financial assistance in selecting a plan, according to HHS.

The administration said 35 percent of federal applicants were under 35 years of age. Fifty-eight percent, or 4.2 million, re-enrolled from 2014 health plans, while the remainder were first-time applicants.

While setting the 9.1 million enrollee target last year, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said that 2015 enrollment in federal and state marketplaces could range as high as 10 million people by the end of 2015.

On Monday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted 12 million enrollees for the year.