State’s insurance exchange manages to reach a new milestone this year
New York’s health insurance exchange has reached a new milestone. According to officials with the New York State of Health, which is the state’s exchange marketplace, some 2,004,827 people have enrolled for health insurance coverage. Exchange officials note that 89% of those signing up for insurance through the exchange had no previous coverage. Governor Andrew Cuomo suggests that this is a major step forward in the state’s continued efforts to make health insurance coverage more available.
Many people enrolling in the exchange used it to sign up for Medicaid
The more than 2 million people enrolled in the state’s exchange is a grand total, which also counts the number of people that enrolled in the exchange during the last open enrollment period. During the most recent open enrollment period, which began on November 15 of 2014, some 429,972 people enrolled in the exchange. Many of these people used the exchange to sign up for the state’s Medicaid program, while others opted to purchase insurance policies directly from the exchange.
Consumers seem to be pleased with the health insurance coverage they received from the exchange
According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Poll, 92% of those that had purchased coverage from the exchange said that they were completely or somewhat satisfied with this coverage. The state’s health insurance exchange has managed to provide consumers with a wide variety of insurance products, many of which are considered quite affordable. Purchasing health insurance through the exchange is also an attractive option for consumers because of the availability of subsidies from the federal government. This financial aid is designed to offset the cost of insurance policies.
Current open enrollment period will end on February 15
While New York has made strides in terms of enrollment into its health insurance exchange, those without coverage have a limited amount of time to actually use the exchange. The current open enrollment period is scheduled to end on February 15. After this time, consumers will not be able to purchase insurance through the exchange until the next open enrollment period.
