Less than two weeks away from the open enrollment deadline and six days removed from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcement that 4.2 million had enrolled for coverage through the insurance marketplaces, a dramatic surge in sign up activity has pushed the new total to 5 million, according to the latest estimate.
As of March 17, approximately 5 million people have enrolled in the federal and state-based exchanges since Oct. 1, when the marketplaces officially launched, Marilyn Tavenner, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Management recently announced.
She indicated that there was a flurry of sign up activity from March 13 – 16, likely stemming from more people looking to get covered before the March 31 cut-off date.
"The last several days have been the busiest since December, with the Call Center taking more than 198,000 calls on Thursday alone – the busiest day since December 23 – and more than 130,000 calls over the weekend," said Tavenner.
She added that in the second full week of March, more than 4 million people visited HealthCare.gov and another 1 million did so on March 15 and 16.
"We're continuing to work hard to ensure that every American who wants to enroll in affordable coverage by the deadline of March 31 is able to do so," said Tavenner. "So don't delay; tell your friends and family to sign up today."
When President Barack Obama was promoting the Affordable Care Act, he indicated that everyone – including people with employee benefits – would be able to save more than $2,000 on their insurance premiums. That hasn't come to pass, though, based on recent data from private health exchange eHealth. Since last February, premiums have increased by 39 percent, The Daily Caller reported.
