Thread: California signs up 53,000 for Obamacare in three days

California signs up 53,000 for Obamacare in three days

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Published: Thursday, 19 Dec 2013 | 5:39 PM ET
By: Dan Mangan | Health Care Reporter


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Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee at a press conference.

Now that's a West Coast offense.
California's Obamacare insurance exchange enrolled more than 53,000 people in health-care plans in just the first three days of this week, a blistering pace that had officials crowing on Thursday.

"December is turning out to be an enormous month," said Peter Lee, head of the Covered California exchange.

Lee said the surprisingly strong level of enrollments—which comes just days before the key Dec. 23 enrollment deadline—puts the state on track to beat its original projection of signing up as many as 700,000 people in Obamacare insurance by the end of open enrollment in March.

From Oct. 1 until Nov. 30, a total of 109,296 people enrolled in private Obamacare plans sold on Covered California's website.

"We could easily exceed those projections," Lee said. "But we aren't done."

Lee encouraged people to sign up online to get enrolled in health plans by Dec. 23, the deadline for enrolling in coverage that begins Jan. 1.

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He noted that Covered California's enrollment of 53,510 people in the first three days of the week is significantly higher than the 31,000 who enrolled in the whole month of October.

Lee said 13,653 people signed up on Monday, which jumped to 19,351 on Tuesday, and 20,506 people on Wednesday.

"Twenty thousand in one day is a lot," Lee said. "I think that's going to be greatly exceeded on the 21st. By how much, I don't know."

"The enrollment we're seeing is remarkable by any account," Lee said.

"It is a very strong testament to Californians both learning about the Affordable Care Act and taking advantage of its benefits."

Lee vowed that people who begin applications online by next Monday, but are unable to complete them "because of a problem on our end ... we're going to get them through" and have them enrolled in heath coverage effective Jan. 1.

(Read more: Meet the new boss for HealthCare.gov's fix-it squad)

California is one of just 14 states operating its own online marketplace to sell insurance for the Affordable Care Act. HealthCare.gov, the federally run site, is selling Obamacare insurance in the remaining states.

The Golden State has been credited for largely avoiding the technical glitches that plagued HealthCare.gov and a number of other state-run Obamacare exchanges in the first month of the rollout of ACA insurance sales.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101287425

States Cite Surge in Obamacare Sign-Ups Ahead of First Deadline

By Devin Dwyer
@devindwyer
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Dec 19, 2013 1:17pm

States running their own Obamacare insurance exchanges are reporting a significant surge in sign-ups just four days before the first major enrollment deadline.

The increase has ranged from 30 percent to 40 percent in the past few weeks, according to state officials who briefed reporters Wednesday. Monday is the last day to sign up for a plan that will guarantee health coverage effective Jan. 1.

California, which has one of the most successful programs, averaged 15,000 enrollments a day last week, up from an average 7,000 a day the week before, state officials said. In all of November, 80,000 Californians picked a plan; in the first week of December, 50,000 signed up.

RELATED: Obamacare Countdown – One Week to First Major Enrollment Deadline

“We are all still in the first inning of a nine-inning game,” Covered California executive director Peter Lee said. “Friends are telling friends; family are telling family. … We are quite confident that as we go into the next half of enrollment that we will build momentum.”

In Kentucky, enrollments are up 40 percent since Thanksgiving, straining the state’s exchange and forcing administrators to hire dozens of extra call-center workers and application processors. “We are seeing about 3,000 people a day approved for Medicaid or a [qualified health plan],” Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange executive director Carrie Banahan said. “We started out a few weeks ago at about a thousand per day.”
More than 92,000 people have gotten coverage so far.

In New York, phones at marketplace call centers are ringing off the hook, averaging between 1,200 to 1,500 calls per hour, officials say. Roughly 4,500 people are enrolling in coverage each day, state Department of Health counsel Lisa Sbrana said.
In the past week alone, they’ve seen a 34 percent increase in people signing up.

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“We’re really happy,” Sbrana said. “We’re seeing a good mix of enrollees across age groups.”

The uptick in demand has also been seen in Connecticut, where 47,000 people have enrolled through the exchange since October and they’re now adding an average 1,400 people a day.

“One area things are not going as well for us is the call center,” Access Health Connecticut CEO Kevin Counihan said. “We didn’t staff up fast enough for the calls” before the Dec. 23 deadline.

Fourteen states plus the District of Columbia operate their own online insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. Some states have been less successful with enrollments through the program than others.

Marketplace websites in Maryland, Oregon, Minnesota and Hawaii, for example, have been plagued with technical problems similar to those that have hampered the federalHealthCare.gov, stunting enrollment.

“We’ve had some challenges,” Washington Health Benefit Exchange CEO Richard Onizuka said. “Our system was out most of the first week of December.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...cmp=latestnews

More than a million signed up for health insurance

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/more-million-signed-health-insurance-2D11785987

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