Covered CA extends enrollment deadline as signups surge

Dec. 17--With the number of signups it has recorded so far tracking better than expected, Covered California has extended its early enrollment deadline through Friday.

Previously, the state's health insurance exchange made Saturday, Dec. 15, the final day that Californians could sign up for coverage that starts on New Year's Day. However, the Affordable Care Act policy purveyor tacked another five days onto the deadline, allowing those who sign up through Friday to have their policies start on Jan. 1.

Covered California's final open enrollment deadline is Jan. 15, but anyone who signs up after Dec. 21 will miss out on a full month of coverage in 2019. Their policies will not start until Feb. 1.

Health insurance officials also made it clear as the week began that a Texas federal court ruling that would invalidate the Affordable Care Act does not affect current enrollment activities or coverage in 2019 because the legal decision will be appealed.

Meanwhile, Covered California is closing in on the total enrollment it posted last year.

In an official announcement released Saturday, the exchange said that about 1.2 million of the 1.34 million Californians who are currently covered by exchange plans have renewed their enrollments for 2019 with approximately 179,000 newly-enrolled residents selecting plans so far this year, bringing the total to about 1.38 million for the open enrollment season.

But a large number of those new signups -- about 58,000 -- came forward last week, including 12,000 signups on Thursday, Dec. 13, and 17,000 on Friday, Dec. 14.

The pending elimination of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, the requirement that most Americans have health insurance or pay a penalty, is expected to erode enrollment nationwide. In June, Covered California estimated that its enrollment was likely to shrink by 12 percent in 2019 with the best-case scenario projected to be a 7 percent decrease.

However, through Dec. 15, noted Cynthia Cox, director of health reform and private insurance for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, Covered California had 1.37 million signups this year compared to 1.42 million by the same date last year.

"That's a drop of about 3 percent," Cox noted. "They're not very far behind where they were last year."

That's about four times better than it has been in most states with health insurance exchanges operated by the federal government. While final data is not yet available, Cox said the government's most recent open enrollment counts from last week show that, on average, states saw 12 percentage point enrollment decreases with the worst shrinkage a nearly 25 percent decrease in Missouri.

However, Florida, which has embraced its local health insurance exchange, is leading the nation. Its enrollment has fallen, but only by 2 percentage points.

With nearly one month left for its extra-long open enrollment season -- federally-operated exchanges were required to stop enrolling new members on Dec. 15 -- it's possible that Covered California's enrollment could break even or even grow slightly over last year's 1.52 million plan selections.

Exchange officials weren't willing to speculate on that possibility Monday.

"This is going to have to settle out before we know for sure," said exchange spokesman James Scullary. "It may end up that way. Certainly, that would be great, but for us it's too early to reach any conclusion."

How has California been able to beat its enrollment projections and retain a larger percentage of its customers than other states have?

Cox noted that the Golden State has a significant advantage over states with federally-operated health exchanges because it was able to retain its $107 million marketing, outreach and sales budget. In July, the Trump administration cut the marketing budgets for the 34 states where it facilitates exchanges from $36 million to $10 million.

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