This Nov. 12, 2014, file photo shows the HealthCare.gov website, where people can buy health insurance, on a laptop screen, shown in Portland, Ore.In the first snapshot provided of signups during this year’s open enrollment on the Health Insurance Marketplace, 87,137 people in Tennessee selected plans before the Dec. 15 deadline for coverage that will start Jan. 1, a report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today said.
Of the Tennesseans who selected a plan on the marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act, 51 percent reenrolled in plans they purchased last year, while 49 percent signed up for the first time, the report found.
About 83 percent of Tennesseans who selected plans were eligible for tax subsidies to lower their monthly premiums, compared to 75 percent who selected plans “over a similar period last year,” the release said.
“Interest in the Marketplace has been strong during the first month of open enrollment,” HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said in a prepared statement. “We still have a ways to go and a lot of work to do before February 15, but this is an encouraging start.”
Nationwide, more than 4 million people signed up for the first time or reenrolled in coverage for 2015 during the first month of open enrollment.
Open Enrollment in the Marketplace runs Feb. 15, 2015.