Report: Two-Thirds of Insurance Exchange Enrollees Paid Premiums -- Update

[4-2-7]

Report: Two-Thirds of Insurance Exchange Enrollees Paid Premiums -- Update

By Louise Radnofsky and Anna Wilde Mathews
Around two-thirds of people who had picked insurance plans through HealthCare.gov paid their first month's premium by April 15, according to a report released Wednesday by Republican lawmakers using data from insurers.

The GOP-led House Energy and Commerce Committee asked for payment data from 160 health plans selling policies in the Affordable Care Act's federal insurance exchange. The committee's leaders said that responses showed that across the 36 states served by the federal exchange, 67% of people who had finished the sign-up process had made the premium payment to insurers and had been enrolled in coverage as of April 15.

The proportion is lower than the rates some large individual insurers have released, though some of the time frames for those estimates vary. On Wednesday, WellPoint Chief Executive Joseph R. Swedish said during an earnings call that around 90% of those who have enrolled in health-law marketplace plans have been paying their premiums. Aetna Inc., in its earnings call last week, said it was generally seeing about an 80% payment rate among those enrolled. The Obama administration's top health official has put the rate between 80% to 90%.

The House report is likely to be seized on by opponents of the law, who have emphasized the difference between picking plans and being enrolled in coverage. Earlier this month, President Barack Obama said that as of April 15, eight million people had picked plans through federal and state-run exchanges.

Supporters of the law raised questions about the report, and also said they expected the percentages to change because of a late enrollment surge. A Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman, Erin Shields Britt, questioned whether the report had captured every insurer participating in the federal exchange and pointed to the report's divergence from the public comments made by big insurance companies.

"Additionally, given the significant surge in enrollments at the end of March, it stands to reason that not all enrollees would have paid by the date of this so-called report, since many people's bills were not even due yet," she said.

The House report's figure doesn't include details about the 14 states that are running their own exchanges, some of which were still allowing people to sign up as of April 30 or later. The committee didn't make the responses from insurers available.

The committee's leaders said the data showed that across the country, only 25% of the enrollees who had paid their premiums as of April 15 were in the highly sought-after 18-to-34 demographic. Starting this year, insurers are no longer allowed to charge people higher rates based on their medical history. As a result, they are keen to enroll as many younger people as possible, to balance out the expected higher medical claims from older and sicker enrollees.

White House officials recently said that 28% of the people picking plans in the federally run exchanges were in the 18-to-34 demographic.

Under the health law, most Americans who wanted to buy coverage through the new insurance exchanges had until March 31 to sign up for a plan through HealthCare.gov. The administration required insurers to begin covering people as of May 1 if they made their first payment by April 15.

Amid a surge of last-minute interest that prevented many people from completing the process, federal officials said they would give those people until April 15 to finish picking their plans. In practice, some insurers allow people to have coverage effective May 1 even if they pay after the middle of the month. As a result, the percentage of premium payments is expected to climb, though it is unclear by how much.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has said that around 80% to 85% of people who had picked plans through February had gone on to make the first month's premium. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius cited similar estimates for a similar time frame, saying that around 80% to 90% of people who had picked plans had also paid.

WellPoint said it had signed up about 400,000 paid members through the health-law marketplace through Feb. 15. The insurer said it was projecting it will reach more than 600,000 total when the entire open-enrollment period is tallied.

WellPoint also said that the demographics of the exchange sign-ups are generally matching its expectations, with the later enrollees skewing younger than those who came in at the start. WellPoint is selling individual plans through the public exchanges in 14 states, including New York and California, which are both running their own exchanges.

Aetna said it had signed up about 230,000 paid exchange members in time to be included in its first-quarter results, and was projecting it could have around 450,000 by the end of the year.

Mark Bertolini, Aetna's CEO, said that, so far, "medical cost indicators for this population remain within a manageable range, as compared to our pricing assumptions." Aetna is participating in the health-law exchanges in 16 states and the District of Columbia, the most of any insurer.

Write to Louise Radnofsky at Louise.Radnofsky@wsj.com and Anna Wilde Mathewsat Anna.Mathews@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...30-723284.html

[Rajoo]

[4-2-7]

Report: Two-Thirds of Insurance Exchange Enrollees Paid Premiums -- Update

[Rajoo]

[BlueStreak]

Just go sign up, moron. It might save you a few bucks. Then you won't have to suck up to the Bay Area interior decorators so much.

[whell]

It just doesn't matter. That fact that the administration is cooking the number on their signature piece of legislation so that it doesn't come off looking like the failure / disaster that it is just doesn't matter much to the folks here.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-6...e-paid-so-far/

Last fall I offered to make a bet with anyone here on the forum that I'd pay up if Obamacare generated new 7,000,000 paid insurance subscribers. No one here offered to take that bet. I guess some of you are smarter than you let on.

[whell]

Another fact that shouldn't get lost in the sauce, the administration was targeting the "young and healthy" age segment to reach an enrollment rate of about 40% for the health insurance exchange plans to be financially sustainable. The enrollment numbers for the young and healthy group came in at 28%. That's a pretty big miss, and will definitely have an impact on the cost of insurance for 2015.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2...enrollment.pdf

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by BeamOn

Agreed.

[4-2-7]

Originally Posted by whell

It just doesn't matter. That fact that the administration is cooking the number on their signature piece of legislation so that it doesn't come off looking like the failure / disaster that it is just doesn't matter much to the folks here.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-6...e-paid-so-far/

Last fall I offered to make a bet with anyone here on the forum that I'd pay up if Obamacare generated new 7,000,000 paid insurance subscribers. No one here offered to take that bet. I guess some of you are smarter than you let on.

But whell the biggest truth you presented was high lighted. These people are absurd in there propaganda and suppressing truth. Not all here but Im sure you know the ones.

Originally Posted by whell

Another fact that shouldn't get lost in the sauce, the administration was targeting the "young and healthy" age segment to reach an enrollment rate of about 40% for the health insurance exchange plans to be financially sustainable. The enrollment numbers for the young and healthy group came in at 28%. That's a pretty big miss, and will definitely have an impact on the cost of insurance for 2015.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2...enrollment.pdf

Yep that was to happen but did not. And don't forget the 40,000 that never had insurance. Remember that goal? So Obama though 300 million people into turmoil to insure 40,000 that didn't happen either.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by whell

Another fact that shouldn't get lost in the sauce, the administration was targeting the "young and healthy" age segment to reach an enrollment rate of about 40% for the health insurance exchange plans to be financially sustainable. The enrollment numbers for the young and healthy group came in at 28%. That's a pretty big miss, and will definitely have an impact on the cost of insurance for 2015.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2...enrollment.pdf

Maybe they should consult with Mitt Romney for some implementation tips.