Silver plans are exchange winners

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that 3.3 million people have completed exchange enrollment through January, however, officials cannot say how many of the new sign ups have gone on to pay their initial premiums to health insurers.

In fourth quarter earnings reports, several national plans estimated their exchange enrollments:

Humana         200,000

WellPoint       500,000 on and off the exchanges

Aetna  135,000

Cigna  200,000 applications, with 20,000 paid enrollments

“Fifty-three percent more Americans are signed up today than were signed up by the end of December,” Kathleen Sebelius, HHS secretary, said in a press call. “In human terms, this means 1.16 additional Americans will have quality, affordable health coverage that’s there when they need it.”

HHS was able to drill down for the first time and report the sign ups by age and gender. In the federally facilitated and state exchanges, 25% of enrollees are between the ages of 18 and 34, and overall, 55% are women.

Likewise, the new report reveals plan selection by metal level. Because financial assistance is offered for Silver plans, they are the most popular, gaining 62% of enrollment.