Despite uncertainty about the future of the Affordable Care Act, open enrollment numbers are on pace for 2020.
In this year’s open enrollment, 2.37 million people signed up for 2020 coverage. That’s slightly behind last year’s numbers by week four of 2.42 million, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
CMS also noted that this year’s weekly figures – week four includes data from November 1-23 – have one fewer day than last year.
The weekly enrollment numbers are also steadier than last year’s. For the past three weeks, more than 700,000 people have signed up for a plan on Healthcare.gov each week, with the highest amount during the first full week of open enrollment at 754,967.
The highest number of sign-ups will likely happen right before the deadline on December 15. About half of all enrollments took place that week of last year, or 4.32 million of 8.45 million total during the entire enrollment period.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit deciding the fate of the ACA is working its way through the court system. Last December, on the final day of open enrollment, a Texas judge ruled the entire law unconstitutional. In March, the Justice Department said it agreed with that ruling.
A coalition of states has appealed the case, which is set to be decided by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s likely the case will reach the Supreme Court in 2020, no matter what the Fifth Circuit decides.
