2020 Open Enrollment Week Two Snapshot Report: 755K QHP selections; 932K total thru 9 days

This Just In from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...

Federal Health Insurance Exchange Weekly Enrollment Snapshot: Week 2: Week 2, Nov 3-9, 2019

In week two of the 2020 Open Enrollment, 754,967 people selected plans using the HealthCare.gov platform. As in past years, enrollment weeks are measured Sunday through Saturday. Consequently, the cumulative totals reported in this snapshot reflect one fewer day than last year.

Every week during Open Enrollment, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will release enrollment snapshots for the HealthCare.gov platform, which is used by the Federally-facilitated Exchange and some State-based Exchanges. These snapshots provide point-in-time estimates of weekly plan selections, call center activity, and visits to HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov.

The final number of plan selections associated with enrollment activity during a reporting period may change due to plan modifications or cancellations. In addition, the weekly snapshot only reports new plan selections and active plan renewals and does not report the number of consumers who have paid premiums to effectuate their enrollment.

Definitions and details on the data are included in the glossary.

That one missing day will become less relevant as each week passes, but even if you assume it accounts for 100K of the shortfall and knock off another 1% to account for Nevada splitting off onto their own exchange, that still leaves 2020 running around 11% (132,000 QHP selections) short of last year for now.

Josh Peck of Get Covered America has noted the renewal vs. new enrollment comparisons vs. last year:

Unlike Week 1, Week 2 is the first full week of enrollment this year and our first real indication of enrollment performance for this Open Enrollment. 558,962 people renewed coverage during Week 2 (10% decrease compared to Week 2 last year) and 196,005 signed up who didn’t previously have Marketplace coverage (6% increase compared to Week 2 last year). The decrease in renewal activity is concerning, but the increase in new enrollment is promising. In either case, it’s too soon to draw conclusions.

So renewals are down 10% but new enrollments are up 6% so far.

...During Week 2 this year, a similar percentage of people who came to the site actually selected a plan compared to the last year (29.3% this year vs 29.2% last year) unlike Week 1.