1.6 million ACA exchange customers dropped out by March

Nearly 13 percent of the 12.7 million people who bought coverage on the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces for 2016 had dropped out by the end of March.

According to new enrollment data released by HHS, 1.6 million people lost their coverage, reducing the 2016 enrollment figure to 11.1 million. The 87 percent retention falls within CMS’ projections of 80 to 90 percent.

The dropoff is expected every year, as enrollees love coverage for not paying their premiums or because an employer-sponsored plan becomes available. HHS said about 17,000 people had their coverage terminated due to unresolved issues related to their immigration or citizenship status.

Healthcare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan said the numbers are actually a positive, as it shows exchange enrollment increased by 1 million customers from March 2015.

“This increased level of enrollment demonstrates the strength of the marketplace over time, as millions of Americans continue to have access to quality and affordable coverage when they need it. As of early this year, 20 million Americans had coverage thanks to provisions of the Affordable Care Act, and the Health Insurance Marketplace is an important contributor to that progress,” Counihan said.

Additional dropouts are expected as the year goes on, but HHS isn’t changing its original effectuated enrollment projection of 10 million people for 2016.

The new data also breaks down enrollment by plan type and shows how many customers are receiving federal assistance to pay for coverage.

Silver plans remain the most popular level of coverage, covering 7.7 million of enrollees, while only 67,000 chose low-cost catastrophic plans.

For subsidies, nearly 85 percent of enrollees qualified for an advance payment of the premium tax credit, with southern states like Mississippi (94.2 percent), Florida (93.3 percent), and Louisiana (92.2 percent) having the highest rate of enrollees receiving financial assistance. New York had the lowest at 55.3 percent.

Some 57 percent of enrollees, or 6.7 million people natiownide, were receiving cost-sharing reductions as of March 31.

The new data also offers insight to what’s driving customers to request a special enrollment period. Of the 1.6 million people who selected a plan outside of the open enrollment period in 2015, nearly 960,000 went shopping for coverage because they had lost other health insurance, like an employer-sponsored plan.