Illinois consumers are snapping up Obamacare health insurance plans much faster than they did last year, despite continuing uncertainty over the law’s future.
More than 95,000 Illinois residents selected Obamacare exchange plans during the first four weeks of open enrollment this year, compared with about 68,000 at about the same time last year, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Nationally, nearly 2.8 million people signed up for insurance coverage on the federal HealthCare.gov between Nov. 1 and Nov. 25 this year, compared with about 2.1 million between Nov. 1 and Nov. 26 last year.
It’s unclear, however, whether this year’s sign-ups will ultimately match last year’s numbers. The open enrollment window this year is about half as long as last year’s. Consumers only have until Dec. 15 to sign up, compared with Jan. 31 last year.
In Illinois, more than 350,000 people enrolled in health insurance through the exchange for 2017. The totals so far this year don’t include people who are being automatically re-enerolled in plans.
“We need to wait until the dust is really settled and the enrollment period closes before reaching any long-term conclusions about marketplace enrollment and sustainability of the marketplaces,” said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms.
Still, some advocates of the law say the initial numbers are encouraging.
“I think it’s even more proof that people in Illinois support the Affordable Care Act and want peace of mind with their health care,” said Stephani Becker, a senior policy specialist at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.
She also noted the rate of sign-ups tends to accelerate each year in the final days of open enrollment.
A shorter enrollment period may have prompted earlier sign-ups, along with better deals on the exchange, she said. Though rates are up in Illinois this year, so are the federal tax credits many consumers receive to help them offset the costs of premiums.
The result? In most Illinois counties (not including Cook and Lake) a 40-year-old with an income of $25,000 can enroll in the lowest-priced bronze plan next year for free, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That same person will pay $32 a month in Cook County and $31 a month in Lake County, according to Kaiser.
More than 80 percent of Illinois consumers on the exchange as of February of this year qualified for tax credits.
It’s also possible some consumers are scrambling to grab coverage out of fear over the law’s future, said Katherine Hempstead, a senior adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
President Donald Trump has pledged to repeal and replace the law, but so far, congressional attempts to do so have been unsuccessful.
Lacking congressional action on the law, the Trump administration has made its own changes, such as shortening this year’s open enrollment window. The administration also pulled back on advertising and outreach efforts.
And shortly before open enrollment began, Trump announced plans to end federal subsidies to health insurers, meant to help compensate them for reducing deductible and copay costs for lower-income consumers who buy insurance on the exchange. Insurance companies must still offer those reduced costs for consumers, but amid uncertainty over the federal subsidies, many insurers raised their rates for 2018 and some consumer advocates worry the insurers could eventually drop off the exchanges altogether.
Insurers in Illinois increased rates on average by 16 to 37 percent for the lowest-priced plans on the exchange. And Illinois consumers are facing fewer choices. In 13 counties, only one insurer is planning to offer individual plans — nearly double the number of Illinois counties that have only one insurer on the exchange this year.
Still, Hempstead said Illinois may be in better shape this open enrollment season than other states. Illinois, unlike some other states, still has four insurers offering individual plans on the exchange, and the state Department of Insurance is working to help people enroll.
The Illinois Department of Insurance bulked up its Obamacare website this year, getcovered.illinois.gov, allowing consumers to purchase plans through that site and talk with licensed brokers. The state also expanded the hours of its help line.
Twitter @lschencker
