Of the two approaches to get individuals signed up for 2015 healthcare plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Rhode Island took the road less traveled, according to the New York Times.
In order to keep as many people insured as possible, the federal government opted to automatically renew existing plans for individuals who took no action. Rhode Island — which runs its own marketplace — decided to require residents to shop for insurance again and consider cheaper or more fitting plans.
The decision to require everyone in Rhode Island to renew was made by the former director of HealthSource RI, Christine Ferguson. Allowing consumers to shop for health plans each year incentivizes insurance companies to keep their products attractive and their prices competitive, Ms. Ferguson told The New York Times.
Whether customers shopping around for health plans will lower prices remains to be seen but what Rhode Island did experience with its novel approach was a lot of marketplace activity.
Seventy-eight percent of Rhode Islanders shopped on the state's marketplace and chose a health plan for 2015, roughly double the 35 to 40 percent of customers who have shopped on and selected a plan from HealthCare.gov, according to the report.
Additionally, a staggering 60 percent of the Rhode Island customers who shopped selected a different plan than the one they bought for 2014. The rate of plan-switchers on the federal marketplace has yet to be released by HHS.
As a result of Rhode Island's plan, approximately 22 percent of the state's customers lost their health insurance by not selecting a plan.
That said, many of those individuals may still enroll in a plan before the Feb. 15 deadline and others may have just acquired coverage through a new job, marriage or some other life change, according to the report.
More articles on healthcare enrollment:
10 states with the most 2015 marketplace plan sign-ups
Enrollment in 2015 health plans up to 7.1M: 10 things to know
87% of HealthCare.gov enrollees seeking financial assistance