CHARLESTON, W.Va. — While it was not a record-breaking open enrollment period in West Virginia, the number of West Virginians who enrolled in health insurance has increased from the 2021 period.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that 14.5 million people signed up for health care coverage during the open enrollment period, which went from Nov. 1, 2021, to Jan. 15. According to federal officials, nearly 3 million individuals are new enrollees.
The agency noted 23,037 West Virginians purchased health insurance coverage through HealthCare.gov, the federal government’s website offering insurance plans.
“We saw a huge increase this year compared to last year,” said Jeremey Smith, West Virginia Navigator’s program director. “An increase of about 4,000 enrollees.”
According to Smith, the two groups with significant increases in enrollment were small business owners and older residents unable to enroll in Medicare.
Smith contributed the increase to lower insurance rates and an increase in West Virginia Navigator’s operating budget.
“We were able to get 10 times the amount of funding that we had been operating at previously,” he said. “That meant we were able to hire additional people out on the ground to do community outreach and raise awareness about the ACA. We’re really happy that so many more people got health insurance this year.”
Smith said people in previous enrollment periods did not know where to purchase health insurance, noting the additional funding made the enrollment increase possible.
“They really had no idea that this was an option to them for insurance,” he said. “They obviously knew they could get it through an employer if it’s offered or Medicare or Medicaid, but they really didn’t know how the marketplace worked. By raising awareness and letting people know this is an option, it really did the trick, and it convinced people to really look into it and sign up.”
People can still enroll in insurance coverage if they qualify for a special enrollment period tied to unemployment; individuals can purchase a health insurance plan within 60 days of losing their jobs.