Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Pace of health exchange sign-ups is down with shorter time to enroll

Obamacare

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

The HealthCare.gov 2017 web site home page as seen in Washington, Monday, Oct. 24, 2016.

More consumers have signed up for health plans compared to the same time in 2016, but the shortened enrollment period means the uptick is not on pace to reach the same number of consumers.

The Trump administration cut the enrollment period for consumers from about 90 to 45 days. Access to healthcare.gov is also not available during a chunk of the weekends.

Numbers released Wednesday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show more than 22,500 new and returning customers had enrolled on Nevada’s exchange as of Nov. 18, up from just more than 16,000 the same time last year.

Almost 37,800 consumers had signed up last year after 43 percent of the enrollment period had elapsed. As of Nov. 18, about 15,300 more consumers would have needed to sign up in less than two days to reach the same benchmark.

“No two years on the exchange have been the same, which makes it challenging to have comparable data,” said Janel Davis, spokeswoman for the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, in an email. “Our call center call volume and website traffic is up, and we believe Nevadans are getting the message to get connected to affordable health insurance.”

People can go to NevadaHealthLink.com to find free in-person assistance to shop for a plan. Open enrollment runs through Dec. 15.