Open enrollment for health insurance through healthcare.gov ends Saturday

The window of time to enroll for health insurance coverage for 2019 is closing this week.

Americans have until Saturday to sign up for coverage through the federal health insurance marketplace, a system that widened access to insurance and was established under the Affordable Care Act - often referred to as 'Obamacare,” because it was signed into law under President Barack Obama. Coverage for the current enrollment period begins Jan. 1, 2019.

More than 3 million people nationwide selected health care plans through the federal marketplace at healthcare.gov during the first month of open enrollment, Nov. 1 through Dec. 1, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that oversees the marketplace.

Of that, about 800,000 were new enrollments. The roughly 2.5 million remaining are people renewing their health coverage, according to the agency.

In Iowa, nearly 19,000 people selected individual health plans between Nov. 1 and Dec. 1.

The rate of enrollment nationwide is down about 11 percent from the previous year, which was about 3.6 million enrollments between Nov. 1 and Dec. 1, 2017.

There are also fewer people enrolling for the first time in the marketplace. New signups during last year's open enrollment period are down about 18 percent compared to this year.

Experts say several factors may have contributed to an overall drop, including some of the Trump administration's policies on the Affordable Care Act. Officials cut federal spending on advertising and outreach for the marketplace, opened the door to alternative health plans and repealed a mandate requiring people to sign up for plans.

Iowans can purchase or change their plan through the federal marketplace until Saturday. For more information, visit healthcare.gov.

The Washington Post contributed to this post.

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