Press Release

108,155 people determined eligible for ACA health insurance; Enrollment Fair in Springfield attracts more than 250, in-person help available on Dec. 9 in Boston

BOSTON – Thursday, December 4, 2014 – The new Massachusetts Health Insurance Exchange (“MA HIX”) website has successfully determined 108,155 individuals eligible for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance. Less than three weeks into Open Enrollment 2015, 49,928 have been enrolled in MassHealth coverage and 58,227 have been found eligible for Health Connector-sponsored plans.

Of the 58,227 who qualify for Health Connector insurance, 29,439 have already shopped and selected their health plans while 2,043 have paid their first bill, less than three weeks in advance of the Dec. 23 deadline to take action for Jan. 1, 2015 coverage.

“Passing the 100,000 mark in less than three weeks is a testament to the strength of our IT and operations systems and the effectiveness of our outreach campaign,” said Maydad Cohen, the Governor’s Special Assistant for Project Delivery. “I won’t be satisfied until every person who needs access to affordable, quality coverage comes through our door but, with each passing day, we get closer and closer to reaching the universe of people who need our help.”

The Commonwealth is engaged in a comprehensive consumer outreach and education campaign designed to notify the roughly 415,000 people currently in 2014 legacy or temporary programs who must act to maintain coverage in 2015. The Administration estimates that between 175,000 – 225,000 of the 2014 member transition population will in fact need to submit a new application to obtain ACA-compliant coverage during Open Enrollment 2015.

To reach these individuals, the Commonwealth and its partners have knocked on 55,918 doors, sent nearly 500,000 pieces of direct mail and placed 160,370 calls. Yesterday, the Health Connector and MassHealth held an Enrollment Fair in Springfield that attracted 250 people. Individuals and families received free in-person help completing applications and talked to insurers about their plans and networks. The next enrollment event is on Tuesday, Dec. 9, from noon to 8 p.m., at the Courtyard Marriott, 275 Tremont St., Boston. Along with providing application and coverage assistance, the event will include an appearance by Boston Bruin Patrice Bergeron from 2 to 4 p.m.

“We are very happy to see so many people successfully apply and receive a determination for coverage in less than a month,” said Jean Yang, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. “There are still many people who need to submit a new application during Open Enrollment, and we will continue to reach out to those people and encourage them to use our well-working system so they can maintain coverage through the Commonwealth.”‎

MAhealthconnector.org has attracted a total of 732,371 unique visitors since Nov. 15, serving a high of 1,292 concurrent users with a page response time of less than half a second (382 milliseconds). An average of 623 front line staff have been available to assist consumers with questions about their applications across state and vendor call centers and application processing units.

During Open Enrollment 2015, members currently enrolled in temporary MassHealth, Commonwealth Care, the former Medical Security Program and Qualified Health Plan programs must submit a new application in order to obtain health insurance through the Commonwealth for calendar year 2015. They also must take action by a certain date in order to ensure care continuity and prevent gaps in coverage. The table below outlines who needs to act by when.

Contact:
Kim Haberlin – 617-470-9686
Jason Lefferts – 617-869-4894
Claire Cooper – 617-921-6870

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