The Health and Human Services Department said Wednesday that 462,000 people selected a health plan through the Obamacare exchanges during the first week of open enrollment, and that roughly half were customers renewing existing plans.
HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and her top lieutenants said the numbers only reflect activity on the federal exchange known as HealthCare.gov, which serves 37 states, and not the state-run portals.
Fifty-two percent of users from Nov. 15 to Nov. 21 were returning to HealthCare.gov to renew coverage they got last year, while 48 percent were new customers, according to the agency.
About 3.7 million unique users viewed or interacted with the website, and more than 95,000 checked out the Spanish-language site.
“We had a solid start, but we have a lot of work to do every day between now and February 15,” Mrs. Burwell said, referring to when open enrollment closes.
The healthy amount of activity marks a break from last year’s first week of enrollment, when software glitches and capacity issues caused HealthCare.gov to crash in its opening days.
The website is built to handle 250,000 users at the same time, which should hold up when the expected rush of consumers use the site in mid-December — to be covered in the new year — and shortly before the enrollment ends on Feb. 15, said Andy Slavitt, principal deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Mrs. Burwell said the administration is sticking to its goal of 9.1 million enrollees in the Obamacare marketplace for 2015, based on what they’ve seen so far.
The administration also said it will release monthly reports on enrollment and weekly “snapshots” of preliminary data.
It is part of the agency’s push for transparency, as Obamacare’s Republicans critics leverage footage of Jon Gruber, an MIT economist and Obamacare adviser caught on tape suggesting the “stupidity” of the American voter and legislative sleight of hand were used to make the law look like an economic boon.
Mr. Gruber has agreed to explain himself before the House oversight committee on Dec. 9.
CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner also is scheduled to testify about revelations the administration used dental plans to inflate total enrollment numbers under the law.
The Republican-led oversight committee realized that 400,000 dental plans had been included in the administration’s reports of 7.3 million enrollees and, later, 7.1 million enrollees. Mixing dental plans with health benefits broke from usual practice, and the administration said it had been done by mistake.
“These numbers have been checked and do not include dental,” Mrs. Burwell said Wednesday of the first-week figures.
Roughly 6.7 million people had health coverage through marketplace when the enrollment period kicked off on Nov. 15, so the administration will need millions of new enrollees while retaining they ones they have.
Officials are encouraging people with exchange plans to log into the exchanges and shop around to make sure they get the best deal — even though they may re-enroll automatically — because their costs and health needs may have changed since last year.
“We are strongly urging and encouraging everyone to come back,” she said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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