Illinois Obamacare enrollment for 2018 comes close to 2017 level

Dec. 22--Nearly as many Illinois residents have signed up for health insurance through the Obamacare exchange for 2018 as did for 2017, despite a shorter enrollment period and uncertainty over the health care law's future.

This year, 339,740 Illinois residents enrolled through the end of open enrollment on Dec. 15. That's compared with 356,403 who signed up through the end of the enrollment window last year, Jan. 31, 2017.

Nationally, 8.8 million people signed up for coverage in the 39 states that use HealthCare.gov. That's down from 9.2 million people last year.

The enrollment data were released just a day after Congress approved a tax bill that will, starting in 2019, eliminate the penalty consumers must pay if they don't have health insurance.

The numbers pleasantly surprised Illinois consumer advocates, who had feared that far fewer people would sign up because the enrollment period was about half as long as last year's and the Trump administration cut advertising and outreach this year. Premiums also rose and fewer insurers offered plans in Illinois.

The enrollment period this year also came amid ongoing debate in Washington, D.C., over ways to change and/or eliminate the health care law, also known as the Affordable Care Act. Shortly before open enrollment began, the Trump administration decided to end federal subsidies paid to insurers meant to help them offset out-of-pocket costs for lower-income consumers, raising questions about whether insurers would pull off of the exchanges.

"We were worried it would be lower," said Kathy Waligora, director of the health reform initiative of EverThrive Illinois, of the enrollment numbers. "We had everything against us."

Stephani Becker, a senior policy specialist at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, said there was a surge in demand for help from so-called navigators -- who help people shop for coverage -- in Illinois in the last couple of weeks. "People want this coverage, and these numbers show it," Becker said.

Meanwhile, a Trump administration official touted the government's management of the enrollment period in announcing the numbers. In a news release, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma called this enrollment period "the most cost effective and smooth enrollment experience for consumers."

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, cautioned that the tally does not include plan selections for consumers who enrolled early in the morning on Dec. 16 or people who left their contact information with call centers because of high volume.

lschencker@chicagotribune.com

___

(c)2017 the Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.