Surge in callers overwhelms phone lines ahead of ACA enrollment deadline: 4 things to know

Federal officials said call center lines were temporarily overwhelmed Monday as consumers tried to enroll in health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act ahead of the Dec. 15 deadline for plans that start Jan. 1, according to a report from The New York Times.

During the surge, callers left their telephone numbers so officials could return calls later to arrange for coverage. Federal officials said people who left their contact information before the enrollment deadline could complete their applications and select health plans after Dec. 15, but still get coverage in January, according to the report.

Here are four other things to know about ACA enrollment.

1. Milwaukee, Detroit and Philadelphia top the list of 20 cities competing to enroll people in health insurance under the ACA, federal officials said Monday, according to the report. Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Atlanta, Oakland, Calif., Nashville, Tampa, Fla., and Salt Lake City were also in the top 10. On the other hand, Dallas, Denver and Las Vegas are lagging.

2. Andrew Slavitt, acting CMS administrator, said 178,000 people were using the health insurance exchange website HealthCare.gov at 2:30 p.m. Monday, higher than the number of users at any other point this year or last year, according to the report.

3. As of June 30, about 9.9 million people had coverage through the federal and state marketplaces, and more than four out of five of them were receiving subsidies to help pay their premiums.

4. HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell expects 10 million people to have coverage through the federal and state marketplaces at the end of 2016.

 

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