Washington state and Yakima interest up significantly for open enrollment

Yakima Herald-Republic (WA)

Nov. 10--Mirroring trends nationwide, both Yakima and Washington state saw a sizable uptick in people pursuing health insurance in the first week of open enrollment compared to the same time last year.

While final sign-up tallies won't be available until after customers make their first payments in December, the Washington Healthplanfinder online marketplace has experienced a 20 percent increase in web traffic compared with the first week of open enrollment last year, said Michael Marchand, chief marketing officer for the Health Benefits Exchange.

"Much like elsewhere around the country, we're continuing to see very strong interest and early numbers related to traffic on our website and at our call center," he said.

More than 250,000 people had logged onto Healthplanfinder by Monday, six days into open enrollment, he said.

The number of brand-new enrollees also stood out.

"We've seen a 50 percent jump in the first week of new customers enrolling in Healthplanfinder that did not purchase coverage through the marketplace last year," he said. "That's a pretty big jump."

Granted, the total number is only about 4,500 people statewide. But he sees it as further indication that people value health insurance now more than before.

"I've heard from people who said, 'I used to think insurance wasn't that important, until something happened, and now I'm really glad I have it,'" Marchand said. "I think the value proposition of insurance is not lost on people anymore."

In Yakima and Kittitas counties, Yakima Neighborhood Health Services is the lead organization for assisting with open enrollment.

Though she hasn't yet crunched local numbers on current enrollment totals, Central Washington Healthplanfinder coordinator Sandra Velasquez said Yakima is following the national and statewide trends.

"We have seen an increase of people coming in to enroll earlier than previous years," she said, citing enrollment events in Ellensburg and Cle Elum earlier this week that saw a much higher turnout than similar events in previous years.

More people are signing up for health plans earlier than they did last year, she said.

She attributed part of the spike in numbers to increased confusion over the cost of insurance this year: As insurance companies were unsure if the cost-sharing reductions or tax credits would stay in place to help lower the cost of insurance, they sent out notices to customers with the full cost of the plan, rather than the subsidized cost as in prior years.

"So I think that has triggered in our area -- people are coming in with these letters, saying 'My premium doubled; what happened?'" Velasquez said.

In-person assisters at Neighborhood Health are helping guide people through the sign-up process, showing them how to update their income information so that any tax credits they qualify for are applied to the health plan cost, lowering their premium.

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