HealthCare.gov just had its busiest week of the 2020 open enrollment season, but the plan count for all consumers continues to run below last year’s total through 6 weeks, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Just over 1 million plans – 302,000 new consumers and 703,000 renewals – were selected during the week of Dec. 1-7, eclipsing the season high of 755,000 from week 2 of open enrollment for the 38 states using the HealthCare.gov platform for the 2020 coverage year, CMS reported Dec. 12.
That brings the cumulative count for the 2020 open enrollment to almost 3.9 million plans through 6 weeks, compared with over 4.1 million selections last year for 2019 coverage, CMS said. If recent history is any indication, though, the cumulative total for 2020 can be expected to approximately double in the final week, as has occurred in the previous 2 years.
Last year, the cumulative total went from 4.1 million after 6 weeks to a final tally of 8.4 million after 7 weeks, and in 2017 it rose from 4.7 million through 6 weeks to a season-ending 8.8 million. Comparisons with seasons before that are not as relevant, because the open-enrollment period was about twice as long, extending through the end of January.
The 2020 open enrollment started Nov. 1 and will end Dec. 15, and week 7 actually ends Dec. 14, so there will be a 1-day week 8 after that.