State officials provide updated information concerning state’s insurance exchange
State officials in Delaware have released updated information concerning the performance of the state’s health insurance exchange. Open enrollment for the state’s exchange officially ended on April 1, after having been active since October of 2013. State officials expect that more people will be able to enroll for coverage, however, as some people will be able to use the state’s insurance exchange until April 15. Extension of the open enrollment period was provided by the federal government due to the ongoing technical problems that exchanges contend with. These problems have made it difficult for people to use the exchanges in their states.
11,000 people enroll into the state’s insurance exchange
According to Delaware officials, more than 11,000 people have enrolled for coverage through the state’s insurance exchange. Approximately two-thirds of these people have already paid their first premiums for the coverage they received through the exchange. Enrollment numbers are expected to increase as people take advantage of the extension of the open enrollment period. Those that will enroll for coverage through the exchange in the coming weeks have had trouble doing so in the past due to the exchange’s technical problems.
Delaware had a goal of enrolling 35,000 people in its exchange, but has fallen well short of that number. The federal government established a goal for the state as well, expecting the state to enroll only 8,000 people by the end of the open enrollment period. Approximately 4% of those that enrolled for coverage through the state’s exchange made use of insurance navigators that were representing the exchange. Delaware received some $4 million in federal grants to hire these navigators.
Estimated 7 million people receive insurance coverage through health care reform law
While exchanges have struggled to overcome problems with technology, an estimated 7 million people throughout the U.S. have received insurance coverage through the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Approximately 5.4 million of these people previously had no insurance coverage and many traded older policies for more robust coverage offered by insurers participating in state exchanges.
