Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Administration: Hundreds Of Thousands Already Enrolled In Obamacare
Kaiser Health News: Nearly Half A Million Select Obamacare Plans Through Healthcare.gov In First Week
Federal officials said today that during the first week of open enrollment for the health law’s online marketplaces, 462,125 people selected health plans, with just over half of those return customers. The figures were the first weekly snapshot promised by the Department of Health and Human Services to provide details about exchange enrollment. (Carey, 11/26)
The Washington Post: A Half-Million People Sign Up For Insurance During HealthCare.gov’s First Week
The figures released Wednesday are from about three dozen states relying on HealthCare.gov, which was created as a major part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The new data does not include the separate health exchanges in place in 13 states, including Maryland, and the District. Nor does it contain any breakdowns among the states in the federal exchange. (Goldstein, 11/26)
Reuters: U.S. Government Says 462,125 People Signed Up For 2015 Obamacare Plans
"It's still early and we have a long way to go, but we're off to a solid start," Secretary Sylvia Burwell said during a press conference to discuss the first week's data for the 2015 enrollment period that opened on Nov. 15. Of the 462,125 people who selected one of the health plans sold on Healthcare.gov, 52 percent were individuals who had enrolled in a 2014 plans. (Humer, 11/26)
The Associated Press: Health Insurance Sign-Ups Coming To Shopping Malls
The numbers represent only the choice of a plan, and not whether consumers paid their first month's premium — a requirement for coverage to start. ... Unlike last year, the website suffered no outages in the first week, officials said, and it's ready to handle 250,000 users at a time during anticipated surges around deadlines. Consumers must sign up by Dec. 15 for coverage to start on Jan. 1. (Johnson, 11/26)
The New York Times: In First Week, More Than a Million Apply for Health Insurance on Federal Website
The applications showed that HealthCare.gov, the website for the federal insurance marketplace, was working. The federal marketplace was largely dysfunctional when it opened last fall. More than three times as many people selected health plans in one week this month as in all of October and November of last year. (Pear, 11/26)
