Wednesday was the last day for people to sign up for health insurance with a Jan. 1 start date through the Vermont Health Connect exchange.
The deadline was originally Dec. 15, but Vermont joined several other states that operate their own Affordable Care Act exchanges in pushing the deadline back.
As of Dec. 28, 22,650 individuals had renewed their coverage for the coming year. That’s about 10,000 short of the roughly 32,000 people who purchased insurance from VHC last year.
Some of those people may have gotten covered through a new job, joined the policy of a spouse or family member, are waiting until closer to the end of open enrollment to renew or could have chosen not to buy insurance.
There are 6,279 new customers who have selected a 2015 policy through VHC during the current open enrollment period, which began Nov. 15. There is some attrition as not everyone who selects a plan starts paying the premiums and actually relies on the policy for coverage, as some newcomers may find coverage elsewhere too. In 2014 38,000 people selected a plan, while only 32,000 actually purchased an insurance policy.
State officials predicted that between 3,000 and 8,000 people would purchase insurance during VHC’s second open enrollment period, which ends Feb. 15.
People who select a plan after Dec. 31 and before Jan. 15 will have coverage that begins in February; those who sign up by Feb. 15 will have coverage that begins in March.
For more information or to enroll in coverage visit vermonthealthconnect.gov.
