NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, today released detailed demographic data on the more than 3.6 million New Yorkers who enrolled in a health plan through the close of the fourth open enrollment period on Jan. 31.
Approximately 18 percent of the state’s population (nearly one in five New Yorkers) enrolled in a health plan through NY State of Health as of the end of the 2017 open enrollment period, officials said. The success of NY State of Health has resulted in a significant drop in the state’s uninsured rate, from 10 to 5 percent between 2013 and 2016, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“New York State has been a national leader in enrolling people in high quality, affordable health insurance since its inception,” said state Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. “The latest numbers offer further proof that the Marketplace is vital to the state’s health care system, providing consumers with the health coverage they need.”
“This past open enrollment period was our busiest yet, demonstrating that New Yorkers want and need affordable health insurance coverage,” said Donna Frescatore, executive director of NY State of Health. “Enrollment increased in every corner of the state, showing that we’re successfully reaching consumers and meeting consumer demands.”
NY State of Health 2017 Open Enrollment Report Highlights include:
• 3.6 Million New Yorkers Enrolled
• The 18 percent of the state’s population enrolled as of Jan. 31 represents a net increase of nearly 800,000 since January 2016, when 2.8 million people were enrolled.
Evaluated together, the number of individuals enrolled in the Essential Plan and in Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) increased by 39 percent between 2016 and 2017, from over 650,000 to more than 908,000 people, state officials said.
New York’s Essential Plan, launched in 2016, provides lower income individuals comprehensive benefits with low or no premium, no annual deductibles, free preventive care, and low copayments Additionally, more than half of individuals enrolling in a QHP will receive estimated tax credits totaling more than $400 million in 2017 to help them pay for coverage.
During the 2017 open enrollment period, nearly 2 million people visited NY State of Health’s website. The website experienced its busiest day yet on January 31, 2017 with more than 110,000 visitors and nearly 3 million page views. In addition, the Spanish language version of the Marketplace website remains popular with nearly 100,000 visits during the 2017 Open Enrollment Period.
The Customer Service Center also experienced increased consumer demand, answering nearly 2 million calls and assisting consumers in 108 different languages. The center answered an average of 145,000 calls per week and peaked at over 210,000 calls in mid-December, during the week that included the deadline for Jan. 1 coverage.
Officials said New Yorkers continue to have a broad choice of health plan options through the Marketplace in every county of the state. This includes choice of plans offered by different health issuers, regardless of the program the individual is eligible for. Eleven health insurers participate in all individual market programs offered through NY State of Health (QHP, EP, CHP, Medicaid) which allows for continuity of coverage when family members are eligible for different programs and/or individual program eligibility changes over time.
The complete 2017 Open Enrollment Report is available on the NY State of Health website at: http://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/2017OpenEnrollmentReport.