More than 600,000 select ACA plans: First four days of enrollment period sees brisk start

WASHINGTON - More than 600,000 Americans signed up for insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act during the first four days of the new enrollment season, according to numbers released Thursday by federal officials that signal a brisk start despite Republicans' efforts to dismantle the law.

A total of 601,462 Americans chose a health plan from Nov. 1 to 4 in states relying on the federal exchange, the figures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show. More than one in five - 137,322 - were new enrollees.

While CMS officials did not release a direct comparison with any of the four previous enrollment periods, administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that more than 200,000 consumers selected plans on the first day, more than double the number last year.

Just more than one million Americans signed up on the federal exchange during the first 12 days of open enrollment in 2016.

But the initial federal figures suggest that the proportion of newcomers to the ACA marketplaces continues to decline. The 22 percent of new enrollees during the first four days in November compares with 24 percent in the early days of 2016 and 33 percent in 2015.

The CMS data only reflect sign-ups in the three dozen states that rely on HealthCare.gov, the federal enrollment website. But the apparent uptick there has been mirrored in states that run their own ACA marketplaces.

The vast majority of those exchanges - including California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island and Washington - all report an increase in both enrollment and inquiries at their call centers.

Taken together, the early figures show that efforts by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to undo much of the 2010 law have not dampened consumers' willingness to turn to the insurance marketplaces it created. Another factor in the faster pace could be that the enrollment season lasts until only mid-December - half as long as in past three years.