Feature

Thanksgiving took a bite out of HealthCare.gov


 

Health care insurance may have taken a bit of a back seat to turkey and shopping last week as the number of plans selected on HealthCare.gov dropped considerably from the week before, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Open enrollment 2020 vs. 2019: Weekly plan selections

Consumers selected 28% fewer plans during week 5 (Nov. 24-30) of Open Enrollment 2020 than in week 4. A similar drop of 33% occurred last year between week 3 of open enrollment and week 4, which included Thanksgiving and Black Friday, CMS data show.

Through week 5, total plans selections for 2020 health insurance coverage came in at almost 2.9 million, which is down about 10% from last year’s 5-week total of 3.2 million for 2019 coverage.

The HealthCare.gov platform is being used by 38 states for the 2020 benefit year, and so far Florida residents have selected the most plans, almost 797,000. Texas is next with just over 400,000 selections, followed by Georgia with 173,000 and North Carolina with 162,000, CMS reported Dec. 4.

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