With two-thirds of the 2019 Open Enrollment Period (OEP19) in the rear view, HealthSherpa customers continue to see significant reductions in what they pay for ACA-compliant coverage compared to OEP18. Those cost reductions may be contributing to much higher total enrollments year-over-year — surpassing 200,000 in the first four weeks for the first time in company history, and 50% higher than the same period from last year. They also continue to trend higher than total enrollments through healthcare.gov, which have rebounded slightly from the first two weeks of OEP19 but still are down more than 10% year-over-year.
Nearly 50% of all enrollments historically come during the final two weeks of OEP, so the next two weeks will tell the tale of OEP19 for people seeking individual health insurance for next year.
Here are highlights from HealthSherpa’s OEP19 stats through week 4:
- Total enrollments are up 50 percent from the same period during OEP18.
- Median net premiums are down 35 percent — $31 per month
- Nearly 75% of all enrollments nationwide are in silver metal level plans, which are comparable in coverage to employer-provided health plans.
- HealthSherpa enrollees to date during OEP19 will save $1.2 billion in 2019 premium costs.
- In addition to low net premiums, 85 percent of HealthSherpa customers also qualified for cost-sharing reductions (CSRs), which will translate to millions more in 2019 savings.
- Women enroll as head-of-household on 55 percent of all applications nationwide.
- Florida continues to lead both in overall enrollments and in year-over-year increase in enrollment activity to this point. Nearly 60,000 Floridians have enrolled in coverage through HealthSherpa, more than 3 times the rate of enrollment during the same period last year.
- The state with the highest per-capita enrollment is Utah — 1 in 500 Utahns has obtained coverage through HealthSherpa.
Note to Media: We can provide state, city, and zip-code level data for the categories shown in this document for healthcare.gov states where HealthSherpa offers ACA-subsidized policies.
Year-Over-Year Change in Key Enrollment Metrics
- HealthSherpa Enrollment Volume: Up 50% (2018: 200,569 vs. 2017: 133,488)
- Total Call Volume: Up 17%
- Median Net Premium: Down 35% (2018: $31 vs. 2017: $48)
- Median Gross Premium: Down 5% (2018: $838 vs. 2017: $794)
- Median Subsidy: Down 1% (2018: $705 vs. 2017: $697)
- Median Income: Down 3% (2018: $21,600 vs. 2017: $21,000)
- Average Applicants Per Policy: Up 1% (2018: 1.47 vs. 2017: 1.48)
