In the first two weeks of early enrollment for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a total of 1,176,232 people enrolled in a health plan for the 2019 fiscal year. Of those enrollees, 901,300 renewed their existing coverage in the marketplace, while a total count of 274,913 people were new consumers.
The count of people who enrolled in early enrollment is important as 2019 will be the first year that there will be no penalties for not having health insurance coverage.
Compared to last year’s enrollment, this year’s enrollment has dropped by 20.4 percent, according to new federal data. Last year, about 8.8 million Americans had enrolled in coverage under the ACA.
This year’s open enrollment for the 2019 fiscal year will begin November 1, 2018 and will end on December 15, 2018. If a person does not sign up for health insurance coverage by December 15, 2018, they may not be able to enroll until the next open enrollment in the fall of 2019.
This year marks the first enrollment season since the ACA’s individual mandate that imposed a tax penalty was repealed. The individual mandate imposed a tax penalty of $695 per person or 2.5 percent of household income.
Due to the repeal of the individual mandate, ACA enrollment may not be as high as when the mandate was in place, as those who are healthier may decide not to enroll.
Read the original article from CNBC here.
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