Enrollment down, AHCT still touts open enrollment success

Access Health CT, the state”™s health insurance exchange, has announced that 111,066  Connecticut residents signed up for health insurance during the 2019 Open Enrollment period that ran from Nov. 1, 2018 to Jan. 15.

The total enrollees is 3,068 fewer than last year. Of those, 80,812 renewed their plans while 30,254 were new customers.

“These results show us how important health insurance is to the residents of Connecticut,” said AHCT CEO James Michel.

“Our ”˜shop, compare and enroll”™ campaign focused on helping state residents evaluate their plan options in order to pick the best coverage for themselves and their families,” Director of Marketing Andrea Ravitz said. “In comparison to the past four open enrollments, we saw a significant increase in the number of individuals shopping than ever before.”

According to Michel”™s presentation to the AHCT board, there were 14,981 customers who did not renew their coverage this year. Of those, 31 percent transitioned to the HUSKY Health program, 9 percent aged out due to qualifying for Medicare, 14 percent did not actively renew, and 46 percent canceled their plans.

Ravitz noted that the exchange viewed this year”™s overall results as a positive, especially in light of such unique factors as the federal government”™s elimination of the penalty for not having health insurance, and the December ruling by a federal judge in Texas that the Affordable Care Act’s individual coverage mandate was unconstitutional. The latter in particular caused confusion among customers, she said, to whom it had to be explained that the ruling did not affect this year”™s enrollment.

AHCT”™s enrollment period was extended by 30 days to Jan. 15 as a result of that ruling, she said.