The Affordable Care Act exchange plan open enrollment period for 2022 coverage reached its old deadline today.
But the new deadline is now Jan. 15, 2022, or later in most states, and it's not clear how well signups are going.
States like Colorado have been trying to push consumers to buy coverage now by pointing out that they need to sign up by Dec. 15 to have coverage in place by New Year's Day.
But it's not clear whether the longer signup period will end up increasing enrollment, by giving people more time to get covered, or hurt enrollment, by reducing prospects' sense of urgency.
Early Numbers
HealthCare.gov ended the open enrollment period for 2021 coverage with about 8.2 million signups, and enrollment period extensions created by the administration of President Joe Biden increased total 2021 ACA exchange plan enrollment to 12 million as of August.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees the ACA exchange system, reported last week that it had recorded plan selections for 3.9 million people through the federal government's HealthCare.gov website as of Dec. 4, and 625,373 signups from state-based exchange programs.
ACAsignups.net, an ACA tracking blog, reports that it believes ACA exchange programs had signed a total of 8.6 million people up for coverage by Dec. 9.
A year ago, CMS was reported it had recorded 3.8 million HealthCare.gov signups as of Dec. 5.
