ACA signups surge in first week of open enrollment

More than 600,000 people signed up last week for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, significantly beating the pace of prior years as consumers defied President Trump’s assertion that the marketplace was collapsing (Source: “Pace of Sign-Ups Under Affordable Care Act Blows Past Prior Years,” New York Times, Nov. 9, 2017

In a report on the first four days of open enrollment, the Trump administration said Thursday, 601,462 people selected health plans in the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov. Of that number, 137,322 consumers, or 23 percent, were new to the marketplace and did not have coverage this year through the federal insurance exchange.

Sign-ups averaged more than 150,000 a day last week. By contrast, they averaged 66,000 a day in the first week of open enrollment in November 2014 and 77,600 a day in the first week of enrollment in November 2015. The Obama administration reported data every other week last fall, and the first report showed that sign-ups averaged 84,000 a day.