Fact Sheets Mar 02, 2021

2021 Marketplace Special Enrollment Period Report

February 15 – February 28, 2021

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) report that more than 206,000 Americans signed up for health insurance plans during the first two weeks of the 2021 Marketplace Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for consumers in HealthCare.gov States.

The number of new plan selections from the start of the SEP opportunity on February 15 through February 28 represents an increase from 76,000 and 60,000 consumers signing up for health insurance during the same period in 2020 and 2019, respectively.[1] In previous years, SEPs were available only for qualifying life events, whereas this year the Biden-Harris Administration opened an SEP to all Americans in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.

CMS plans to release a report on new plan selections for each month of the 2021 SEP. New plan selections are a count of unique consumers who didn’t have an active Marketplace plan as of February 14 and made a plan selection on or after February 15.  

Definitions and details on the data are included in the glossary at the end of the report.

Plan Selection and Application Activity

Feb. 15-28, 2021

New Plan Selections

206,236

New Consumers Requesting Coverage on an Application Submitted on or after February 15

385,864

Marketplace Eligible

330,473

Medicaid/CHIP Eligible

54,434

 

Call Center and Website Activity

Feb. 15-28, 2021

Call Center Volume

497,579

Calls with Spanish-Speaking Representative

69,882

HealthCare.gov Users

3,109,862

Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users

160,772

CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users

134,817

Window Shopping CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users

9,308

 

 

 

New Plan Selections by State

Feb. 15-28, 2021

Feb. 15-29, 2020

Feb. 15-28, 2019

Alaska

432

143

132

Alabama

4,226

1,062

963

Arkansas

1,461

733

649

Arizona

3,773

1,470

1,340

Delaware

561

310

211

Florida

61,737

22,872

16,188

Georgia

16,636

3,926

3,042

Hawaii

515

198

199

Iowa

1,436

781

591

Illinois

5,381

2,558

2,306

Indiana

2,493

1,291

1,278

Kansas

1,834

820

672

Kentucky

1,407

1,273

981

Louisiana

1,743

816

769

Maine

880

498

406

Michigan

4,795

2,406

2,162

Missouri

4,875

1,534

1,275

Mississippi

2,790

706

581

Montana

646

483

289

North Carolina

13,208

3,817

3,575

North Dakota

467

226

203

Nebraska

1,397

743

692

New Hampshire

939

367

429

New Mexico

825

327

340

Ohio

4,432

2,398

1,631

Oklahoma

3,796

1,737

1,398

Oregon

1,994

1,313

1,263

South Carolina

6,104

1,330

1,108

South Dakota

706

228

216

Tennessee

5,623

1,696

1,214

Texas

34,682

11,674

7,838

Utah

4,427

1,872

1,627

Virginia

5,954

2,146

2,130

Wisconsin

3,045

1,877

1,777

West Virginia

433

200

221

Wyoming

583

214

211

Glossary

New Plan Selections: The number of unique consumers who didn’t have an active enrollment as of February 14, and made a plan selection on or after February 15, that is active as of the end of the reporting period. An active plan selection is one that is non-cancelled with an end date of December 31. While this plan selection metric is net of cancellations and terminations that occur during the reporting period, it doesn’t represent effectuated enrollments because reconciliation activity may continue in later periods.

HealthCare.gov States: This report refers to the 36 Marketplace states that use the HealthCare.gov platform for the 2021 coverage year. The 36 states for 2021include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

New Consumers Requesting Coverage on an Application Submitted on or after February 15: The number of unique consumers who submitted an application and are requesting coverage on or after February 15, and didn’t have an active enrollment as of February 14. If determined eligible for Marketplace coverage, a consumer still needs to pick a health plan (i.e., plan selection) and pay their premium to have coverage (i.e., effectuate enrollment).

Marketplace Eligible: The number of unique new consumers requesting coverage on an application submitted on or after February 15 who are determined eligible to enroll in a Marketplace health plan, regardless of whether they applied for or are eligible for financial assistance.

Medicaid/CHIP Eligible: The number of unique new consumers requesting coverage on an application submitted on or after February 15 who are assessed or determined eligible for enrollment in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Call Center Volume: The total number of calls received by the Marketplace call center, which supports HealthCare.gov, over the course of the reporting period. Calls with Spanish-speaking representatives aren’t included.

Calls with Spanish-Speaking Representative: The total number of calls received by the Marketplace call center, which supports HealthCare.gov, where consumers chose to speak with a Spanish-speaking representative over the course of the reporting period. These calls aren’t included in the Call Center Volume metric.

HealthCare.gov Users or CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users: These user metrics total how many unique users viewed or interacted with HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov, respectively, over the course of the reporting period.

Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users or CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users: These user metrics total how many unique users interacted with the window-shopping tool at HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov, respectively, over the course of the reporting period. Users who window-shopped are also included in the HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov user total.

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[1] New Jersey and Pennsylvania transitioned to State-based Marketplaces in 2020, and Nevada transitioned to a State-based Marketplace in 2019. Plan selections from these three states aren’t included in this report.