Despite earlier doubts surrounding its ability to meet the enrollment objective, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges could very likely reach or exceed 6 million enrollees by Monday, analysts told USA Today.
Dan Mendelson, CEO of healthcare consulting firm Avalere Health, told USA Today the state-based and federally facilitated exchanges could potentially enroll more than 6 million, the most recent Congressional Budget Office projection.
Earlier this month, Avalere released an analysis estimating only 5.4 million would sign up for health plans through the exchanges by the end of the 2014 open enrollment period. However, Mr. Mendelson said the company has changed its estimate based on marketing efforts by federal officials and advocacy groups — such as President Obama's plug for HealthCare.gov on the popular FunnyorDie.com webseries "Between Two Ferns" — and a surge of visitors to HealthCare.gov this week, according to the report. Health plans have also reported "brisk" enrollment recently, according to Mr. Mendelson.
CMS Communications Director Julie Bataille told USA Today HealthCare.gov had 1.2 million visitors on Tuesday and was able to host as many as 100,000 people at once.
Open enrollment ends March 31, although the Obama administration recently announced it will extend the deadline for certain people who can demonstrate they weren't able to get health insurance because of errors on the part of HHS or HealthCare.gov. On March 17, CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced the exchanges had hit 5 million enrollees, up from roughly 4.2 million enrollees as of March 1, according to HHS.
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