A total of 1,478,250 people signed up on HealthCare.gov since Nov. 1, the start of open enrollment in individual health insurance plans, according to the federal Centers for Medicare along with also Medicaid Services.
Last year, 1,008,218 people signed up inside the first two weeks.
CMS also reported that will the number of people applying for coverage along with also visiting HealthCare.gov was sharply higher than inside the same period last year.
The brisk pace of sign-ups along with also customer interest comes despite fears by Obamacare advocates that will enrollment could significantly decrease because of hostile actions by the Trump administration.
Among some other things, the administration has slashed budgets for Affordable Care Act outreach along with also advertising along with also ordered federal health officials not to participate in state events that will encourage enrollment. Advocates also are concerned that will the enrollment season on the federal exchange is usually only about half the length of last season.
The completely new tally also comes a day after Senate Republican leaders said they will seek repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate, which requires most Americans to have some form of health insurance coverage during the year or pay a tax penalty.
The enrollment snapshot released by CMS on Wednesday details sign-ups on HealthCare.gov, the federal exchange that will sells individual plans inside the 39 states that will do not operate their own Obamacare marketplaces.
Not all state-based marketplaces have released their own tallies.
however California, the biggest state-run exchange, earlier reported that will enrollments on the first day of sign-ups were 25 percent higher than last year. California has not provided further updates.
Maryland said its enrollment pace was double last year’s inside the first week; Washington state reported 53 percent higher enrollment inside the first eight days; along with also Rhode Island saw 5 times the number of enrollees inside the first week by last year.
CMS said 876,788 people selected an insurance plan on HealthCare.gov by Nov. 5 through last Saturday.
Of those people, 208,397 were completely new customers, along with also 668,391 were returning customers.
Cumulatively, 345,719 completely new customers have selected plans on HealthCare.gov since enrollment began Nov. 1.
along with also 1,232,531 customers have renewed coverage on that will exchange.
The number of consumers on applications for coverage submitted to HealthCare.gov was 2.92 million inside the first two weeks, or about 42 percent higher than the number of consumers on applications during the first two weeks of last year’s enrollment period.
The number of unique users on the federal website was 5.8 million inside the first two weeks of This particular season, or 28 percent higher than the number of users last year.
Open enrollment on HealthCare.gov ends Dec. 15. The sign-up season is usually longer, along with also ends on various days, on most state-run exchanges.
People who do not have insurance coverage during 2018 are subject to a tax penalty that will is usually the higher of $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of household income.
However, many uninsured people can avoid the penalty if they qualify for a wide range of exemptions.