Covered California Sign Ups Continue at Strong Pace

Just over 144,000 new people signed up for health insurance on the Covered California marketplace during the first month of open enrollment, officials said Wednesday.

Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, noted that the state is now one-third of the way through open enrollment, which ends Feb. 15. At the same point last year, 110,000 people had picked a plan.

Lee said enrollment was going "remarkably smoothly" so far, although there have been "some small glitches along the way."

Covered California is targeting 1.7 million enrollees for 2015, including renewing 1.2 million current customers and netting half a million new people.

In addition to those who have picked a plan, another 448,000 people have completed applications and break down into several groups:

• 216,000: newly-enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state's health insurance program for people who are low income
• 75,000: likely eligible for Medi-Cal
• 157,000: completed Covered California applications, but have not yet selected a plan

“Those numbers are incredibly strong and give us a lot of confidence we’ll meet our goal at end of the open enrollment period," Lee said.

Those who have been deemed eligible for Covered California have until Sunday to pick a plan for coverage that will start Jan. 1. Lee said that more people are seeking help this year than last -- 70 percent of people signing up either worked with an insurance broker, a certified counselor or from the help line.

The extension offered to people who started the enrollment process by Monday was given not because of any technical problems on the site, Lee said, but because "insurance is confusing. We want to give people the opportunity to address their questions in person or on the phone and get signed up."

Covered California believes that many of the remaining uninsured today have been uninsured for two or more years -- or never had health insurance at all. "These individuals, we believe, need help," in enrolling, Lee said.

The number of insurance agents licensed to sell Covered California products is almost double the number last year -- 14,500 vs. 7,700. There are also 6,300 certified enrollment counselors available to help consumers. Counties have 22,000 eligibility workers statewide.

The announcement only deals with new enrollees. Covered California expects to have information about the 1.2 million current customers and their renewal patterns sometime in January, although Lee said they did not yet have a date. People who currently have a Covered California plan should either renew or switch plans by Sunday, Lee said. But if they let their coverage lapse, they can re-enroll in a plan by Feb. 15.

No demographic information is yet available for the new enrollees, although Lee said he is "optimistic" about efforts to enroll Latinos. He stressed that any immigration information needed to verify lawful presence in the United States is "safe, secure and confidential" and will not be shared with immigration authorities.