CMS announces Open Enrollment for the Federal Health Insurance Exchange

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Open Enrollment Period for the Federal Health Insurance Exchange. It will officially begin at HealthCare.gov on Sunday, November 1, 2020.  It will run through Tuesday, December 15, 2020.

Consumers will be able to log in to HealthCare.gov and CuidadodeSalud.gov to fill out an application and enroll in a 2021 Exchange health plan for coverage starting as soon as January 1, 2021.  Consumers may also call 1-800-318-2596.

“Once again, the Trump Administration has been successful at lowering premiums, offering more options, and making it easier for Americans to compare choices through HealthCare.gov,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.

Recently, CMS released a report showing the third consecutive year under the Trump Administration’s new policies of improving market conditions. This includes lower premiums and more plan options.

Three years of declining second-lowest-cost silver plan (benchmark plan) premiums have combined to deliver an 8% average premium reduction across states using HealthCare.gov since the 2018 coverage year.

Many consumers coming to HealthCare.gov will also find they have more options, given that issuer participation has also increased for the third year in a row. The percentage of HealthCare.gov enrollees with access to only one issuer is decreasing from 29% in 2018 to 4% in 2021, and more than three-quarters of HealthCare.gov enrollees will have access to at least three issuers in 2021.

Current enrollees who don’t update their application and enroll in a plan by the deadline of December 15, 2020, will generally be automatically enrolled in the same program or another program with the same insurance company intended to be as similar as possible.

If that’s not available, they will generally be enrolled in another plan with a different insurance company. Consumers who miss the deadline to re-enroll in a plan of their choice during Open Enrollment will also not be able to make any plan changes until the next coverage year unless they qualify for specific Special Enrollment Periods.

The Trump Administration’s goal has always been to ensure that all Americans have affordable, quality health coverage. Combined with improvements to the market, the updates to HealthCare.gov will provide a better consumer experience with more choices.

To maximize enrollment opportunities for consumers in the Alaska and Hawaii time zones, individuals will have an additional two hours beyond the 11:59 pm PT December 15th deadline to enroll in coverage.

CMS encourages new and returning consumers to take this opportunity starting Sunday, November 1, to update their information, review their options and decide on coverage that best meets their needs for 2021 by the December 15 deadline for Exchange health coverage.

To view the 2021 Fact Sheet for more information, visit https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/federal-health-insurance-exchange-2021-open-enrollment.