The Healthcare.gov online marketplace was used by 394,732 consumers to select insurance plans during the fourth week of open enrollment, according to the “weekly snapshot report” issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Total selections the prior week were 567,822, and the total for the four weeks was 2,040,430, HHS reported. About a third of those selecting health insurance plans on the federal marketplace during all four weeks were new insureds, while two thirds were renewing their coverage.
About 1.9 million users visited the website in the fourth week of enrollment, compared to 2.4 million the prior week. Of these, 565,001 submitted applications for coverage, compared to 858,692 in the third week of enrollment.
The Spanish-language CuidadoDeSalud.gov site had nearly 33,700 visitors, compared to nearly 50,000 the prior week.
About 627,000 used the “window shopping” feature on Healthcare.gov, along with just over 8,600 on CuidadoDeSalud.gov. The comparable figures for the prior week were 740,000 for Healthcare.gov and 14,000 for CuidadoDeSalud.gov.
Phone calls to the HHS call center totaled just over 485,000, with an average wait time of 3 minutes and 41 seconds, for English-speaking consumers. This compares to nearly 766,000 calls, with a wait time of 4 minutes and 56 seconds, the prior week.
Calls to Spanish-speaking representatives totaled 49,618, down from the prior week’s 50,195, with average wait times of about 11 seconds, down from 14 seconds in Week 3.
“Americans who need health coverage starting January 1st have just two weeks remaining before the December 15 enrollment deadline,” said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
“We’re encouraged by the number of people who are returning to the Marketplace or are seeking coverage for the first time,” she added. “More than 2 million consumers have selected a plan and over 700,000 are new Marketplace consumers.”
The Health Insurance Marketplace report includes the 38 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform. Later in the Open Enrollment period, HHS will produce more detailed reports that look at plan selections on Healthcare.gov and State-based Marketplaces.