Enrollment At Connecticut’s Obamacare Exchange Increases For 2018

Jan. 09--Enrollment at the state's health insurance exchange is up 2.3 percent over last year despite a shortened open enrollment period and Republicans' monthslong effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, state officials said Monday.

"We had a much shorter window for people to sign up -- only seven weeks -- and there were a lot of confusing messages coming out of Washington, D.C.," said Jim Wadleigh, CEO of Access Health CT. "Despite all of that, we had very positive results."

Wadleigh and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman held a news conference at the state Capitol where they rattled off several pages of statistics. There are 114,134 total enrollees in 2018 health insurance plans, including more than 13,000 new customers. Both numbers exceeded expectations.

About 80,000 customers kept their coverage from last year and more than 20,000 people who had previously bought a plan from Access Health CT but didn't sign up in 2017 have returned to the exchange, Wadleigh said.

"These numbers demonstrate a consistently strong demand for the exchange and affordable health care," Wyman said.

There are two insurers who sell plans on Access Health CT, ConnectiCare and Anthem. The vast majority of customers, about 83,000, chose ConncectiCare, Wadleigh said. Both insurers were approved for double-digit rate increases this year. The uncertainty over the future of Obamacare contributed in part to those increases.

Last year's open enrollment ran from Nov. 1 through Dec. 22. The prior open enrollment period was three months long.

Since the election of Donald Trump as president, Republicans in Congress have made repeated attempts to repeal President Barack Obama's signature health care law. They finally succeeded in removing one key provision of the law -- the individual mandate, which requires people to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty -- through the tax reform legislation that was signed into law before Christmas.

After the news conference, Wyman said she was heading to a meeting of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are discussing potential legislation to strengthen the Affordable Care Act in Connecticut amid the uncertainty at the federal level.

Wyman said she supports the adoption of a statewide insurance mandate, which would provide additional stability to insurers who sell on the exchange.

"Despite the Trump administration's efforts to undermine access to care, our state has been a national leader in health and human services, especially the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and we want to continue to make gains that support public health care and economic security," Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a written statement.

Nationally, 8.8 million bought 2018 plans through health exchanges, where low-income customers can receive financial help to pay their premiums, down from 9.2 million a year earlier.

The majority of health insurance enrollees in Connecticut and nationwide receive coverage through their employers.

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