Covered California Exceeds Goals

While health insurance exchanges in other parts of the country have struggled to obtain enrollees, Covered California has hit its enrollment goal nearly two months early.

According to new data from Covered California and the Department of Health Care Services, health plan enrollment through the first half of February has reached 828,638. That includes more than 100,000 who have obtained coverage so far this month.

Exchange officials had projected that enrollment of Californians eligible for tax subsidies would reach 696,000 by the end of the open enrollment period on March 31. As of Jan. 31, subsidized enrollment reached 626,200. 

Although Covered California officials declined to release specific February enrollment numbers on Wednesday, ongoing trend data suggests that subsidized enrollment would be slightly more than 710,000.

In addition to the continued enrollment surge, the exchange also saw a significant bump in Latino enrollees, which reached 28% of the overall enrollees through February. That compares to 18% through December.

The relatively low enrollment numbers among Latinos has policymakers worried that they will be underrepresented as part of the coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

“California has already exceeded its projected base enrollment for the 2014 open-enrollment period. While this is a strong showing, our goal is not pinned to meeting projections, but to making sure every Californian gets covered,” said Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee.