With Affordable Care Act (ACA) open enrollment officially at a close, the Trump administration said more than 8.2 million people signed up for coverage using HealthCare.gov this year.
A total of 8,234,722 people used the federal exchange to enroll in coverage for 2021, with 4,416,057 in the final week of Dec. 6-15.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) noted that despite Pennsylvania and New Jersey moving to their own state-based exchanges, enrollment was nearly on par with the 8.3 million sign-ups for the 2020 plan year.
“Annual enrollment data shows that the Trump Administration’s focus on delivering more choices along with a smooth and streamlined consumer experience continues to drive strong enrollment,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma in a statement.
“We’ve opened more pathways to enroll by taking advantage of private sector and people are clearly finding the coverage they need at this critical time. Congratulations to the CMS team for all their hard work in bringing another Open Enrollment Period to a successful conclusion," Verma said.
Of the total sign-ups, 1.8 million were new customers, CMS said, with 6.4 million renewing their coverage on the exchanges.
In the announcement, CMS touted its efforts to lower premiums for ACA exchange plans and to boost the number of options available to consumers. The agency said premiums have declined by an average of 8% since 2018 across states that use HealthCare.gov.
In addition, the number of counties in these states that had only one insurer available decreased to 10% in plan year 2021, compared to 56% in 2018.