Obamacare enrollment soars in San Francisco region
SACRAMENTO, California—Obamacare enrollment in the greater San Francisco Bay Area soared in the last five months, exceeding health authorities’ base projection by 218 percent.
Covered California™ and the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced that 194,879 consumers in the nine-county greater San Francisco Bay Area enrolled in subsidized and non-subsidized Covered California health insurance plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act from October last year to February
The new total represents a 19-percent increase from the 163,512 enrollments recorded through Jan. 31. An additional 184,813 have been determined likely eligible for Medi-Cal in the nine-county area.
The five-month Covered California total represents 218 percent of the base projection of 89,599 enrollments the agency estimated for the region during the entire six-month enrollment period, which ends March 31 (see the table attached). Enrollment in Medi-Cal is year-round.
The DHCS attributes the impressive pace of enrollments in the greater Bay Area partly to improved customer service. The agency has increased staff to answer consumer calls, added phone lines, boosted its website efficiency, expanded its live Web chat function and upgraded its Spanish-language Web pages.
The greater Bay Area counties of San Francisco, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Napa, Sonoma and Solano represent 22 percent of the statewide enrollment.
The local total includes 161,801 consumers eligible for financial subsidies. The nine counties represent 16 percent of those deemed likely eligible for Medi-Cal coverage.
Statewide 880,082 consumers enrolled in plans for the five-month period ending Feb. 28. The total increased to 923,832 through March 9. Covered California also announced on Monday that it had enrolled more than one million consumers as of March 14.
Tables and graphics showing enrollment by metal tier and health insurance plan in all regions are available online at www.CoveredCA.com/news/PDFs/regional-stats-feb/Feb_Regional_Tables.pdf and www.CoveredCA.com/news/PDFs/regional-stats-feb/feb_regional_pies_charts.pdf
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