January is Glaucoma Awareness Month

Make a Resolution for Healthy Vision

Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes loss of vision by damaging the optic nerve, which sends information from your eyes to your brain. For more information, visit the National Institutes for Health, National Eye Institute's website at nei.nih.gov/nehep.

Prevent vision loss by finding and treating problems early. Medicare covers a glaucoma test once every 12 months for people at high risk for glaucoma. All people with Part B who are at high risk for glaucoma are covered. You're at high risk if you have diabetes, a family history of glaucoma, are African American and 50 or older, or are Hispanic American and 65 or older. Visit medicare.gov/coverage/glaucoma-tests.html for more information.

Learning Series Webinar

January 12, 2017 1:00 – 2:30 pm ET

This webinar will provide information about coordination of benefits for dual-eligible beneficiaries including:

Defining what it means to be both Medicare and Medicaid eligible (dual eligible)
Explaining the Medicare Savings Program (MSP) and the different levels of help based on eligibility
Describing how payment coordinates between Medicare and Medicaid

To join the webinar, visit goto.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1129605.

Marketplace Webinars

1) Getting Ready for Tax Season
January 18, 2017 2:00 – 3:00 pm ET

This webinar will provide an overview of the Health Insurance Marketplace as it relates to tax filing for consumers. Topics will include:

Premium tax credits
Filing taxes and the forms needed
Tax credit reconciliation
Information for Assisters
Tax resources

To join the webinar, visit goto.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1110449.

2) Exemptions from the Health Insurance Marketplace Fee

January 25, 2017 2:00 – 3:00 pm ET

This webinar will provide an overview of the exemptions process in the Health Insurance Marketplace. Topics will include:

Eligibility for exemptions based on certain circumstances
Filing processes for an exemption
Resources

To join the webinar, visit goto.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1128944.

Newly Posted Training Materials

2017 Comparison of the Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D Appeals Processes

New / Updated CMS Publications

Marketplace PDM (Marketplace & Medicaid/CHIP) User Guide

Get Help in Your Language Postcard

If You Get Extra Help, Make Sure You're Paying the Right Amount

Medicare Appeals

How Health Coverage Affects Your Taxes

Medicare prior authorization of repetitive, scheduled non-emergent ambulance transport & non-emergent hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy demonstrations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2016

Contact: CMS Media Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS Media Inquiries

Special Edition Open Enrollment Snapshot: November 1 through December Deadline for January 1 Coverage

DEC 11 – DEC 19, 2016

Through the extended deadline for January 1, 2017 coverage, Americans are demonstrating clear demand for quality, affordable coverage as 6.4 million consumers have signed up for Health Insurance Marketplace plans through HealthCare.gov, an increase of 400,000 plan selections compared to last year at this time. Total plan selections from November 1 through the extended deadline of December 19 include 2.05 million new consumers and 4.31 million returning consumers actively renewing their coverage. Consumers whose coverage will be automatically renewed for January 1 are not yet included in these totals.

“With a record 6.4 million consumers selecting plans for January 1, Americans are once again proving that Marketplace coverage is vital to them and their families,” said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. “Now, we want uninsured Americans who have not yet signed up to know they have not missed their chance to get covered. Open Enrollment for 2017 continues through January 31^st. With most Marketplace consumers able to find coverage for less than $75 per month in premiums, uninsured Americans should join the millions of Americans who’ve already gone to HealthCare.gov to check out their options.”

December 15th, the original deadline for January 1 coverage, was the biggest day of any Open Enrollment ever, with 670,000 plan selections, breaking last year’s December 15th record of 600,000. To meet high demand, CMS extended the deadline for January 1 coverage by two business days.

This snapshot covers plan selections made through the extended deadline of December 19. Throughout Open Enrollment, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will release enrollment snapshots for the HealthCare.gov platform, which is used by the Federally-facilitated Marketplaces and State Partnership Marketplaces, as well as some State-based Marketplaces. This snapshot is a special edition to report enrollment numbers for consumers securing January 1, 2017 coverage.

These snapshots provide point-in-time estimates of biweekly plan selections, call center activity, and visits to HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov. The final number of plan selections associated with enrollment activity during a reporting period may change as plan modifications or cancellations occur, such as due to life changes like starting a new job or getting married. In addition, as in previous years, the biweekly snapshot only reports new plan selections, active plan renewals and, starting in January, auto-renewals; it does not report the number of consumers who have paid premiums to effectuate their enrollment.

Later in the Open Enrollment period, HHS will produce more detailed reports that look at plan selections across the Marketplace, including both states using the HealthCare.gov platform and State-based Marketplaces using their own enrollment platforms.

Definitions and details on the data are included in the glossary.

Fast Facts on HealthCare.gov through the First Deadline
Our experience through December 15th showed the impact of this year’s improvements to the HealthCare.gov consumer experience, including the more streamlined and intuitive PlanCompare 2.0 and a state-of-the-art mobile option. For example:
• Consumers were able to navigate the site faster than ever this year, resulting in an average 10% decrease in time on the site.
• The improved, state-of-the-art mobile platform led to a 36% increase in consumers using mobile versus last year, with mobile users 28% more likely to enroll on HealthCare.gov than last year.
• On Monday of the deadline week, over 325,000 Americans selected plans on HealthCare.gov. On Tuesday, over 380,000 Americans selected plans on HealthCare.gov. This marked two of the biggest days in HealthCare.gov history.

Federal Marketplace Snapshot

Federal Marketplace Snapshot	Dec 11 – Dec 19	Cumulative Nov 1 – Dec 19
Plan Selections (net)	2,340,779	6,356,488
New Consumers	945,620	2,049,127
Consumers Renewing Coverage	1,395,159	4,307,361
Consumers on Applications Submitted	2,478,828	8,869,640
Call Center Volume	2,930,178	7,581,490
Calls with Spanish Speaking Representative	142,042	455,054
HealthCare.gov Users	6,454,508	18,267,041
CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users	234,126	613,996
Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users	1,247,070	3,435,586
Window Shopping CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users	38,685	56,064

HealthCare.gov State-by-State Snapshot

Consumers across the country continued to explore their health insurance options by reaching out to a call center representative at 1-800-318-2596, attending enrollment events in their local communities, or visiting HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov. Individual plan selections for the states using the HealthCare.gov platform include:

Week 6	Cumulative Plan Selections Through Dec 19
Alabama	122,711
Alaska	13,172
Arizona	121,931
Arkansas	40,759
Delaware	19,111
Florida	1,296,835
Georgia	352,282
Hawaii	11,750
Illinois	247,818
Indiana	119,429
Iowa	35,931
Kansas	72,992
Kentucky	66,406
Louisiana	84,206
Maine	56,270
Michigan	215,978
Mississippi	51,669
Missouri	185,413
Montana	37,810
Nebraska	66,389
Nevada	60,617
New Hampshire	35,064
New Jersey	204,977
New Mexico	35,633
North Carolina	369,077
North Dakota	14,167
Ohio	165,046
Oklahoma	92,179
Oregon	112,864
Pennsylvania	290,950
South Carolina	147,459
South Dakota	22,597
Tennessee	163,743
Texas	775,659
Utah	144,848
Virginia	289,179
West Virginia	22,777
Wisconsin	173,755
Wyoming	17,035

HealthCare.gov Local Area Snapshot

The snapshot includes plan selection by top Designated Market Areas (DMAs) which are local media markets. This data provides another level of detail to better understand total plan selections within local communities. Some DMAs include one or more counties in a state that is not using the HealthCare.gov platform for 2017. Plan selections for those DMAs only include data for the portion of the DMA that is using the HealthCare.gov platform, so the amounts reported in the snapshot do not represent plan selections for the entire DMA. However, in cases where a DMA includes portions of multiple states but all of those states use the HealthCare.gov platform, the reported amounts reflect the whole DMA. Because not all DMAs are listed in the table, the amounts reported for local markets will not sum to the national total. Later in the Open Enrollment period we will be reporting enrollments for all DMAs.

Local Markets in HealthCare.gov States	State	Cumulative Plan Selections Through December 19
Atlanta	Georgia	270,570
Austin	Texas	75,273
Charlotte	North Carolina	122,918
Chicago	Illinois	192,744
Dallas-Ft. Worth	Texas	215,430
Detroit	Michigan	105,566
Ft. Myers-Naples	Florida	73,543
Greensboro-H. Point-W.Salem	North Carolina	62,441
Greenvll-Spart-Ashevll-And	North Carolina	78,723
Harlingen-Wslco-Brnsvl-Mca	Texas	34,147
Houston	Texas	240,263
Jacksonville	Florida	71,008
Kansas City	Kansas/Missouri	73,181
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale	Florida	490,425
Milwaukee	Wisconsin	67,805
Mobile-Pensacola (Ft Walt)	Alabama	44,219
Nashville	Tennessee	70,984
New York/Northern New Jersey	New York/New Jersey	161,520
Norfolk-Portsmth-Newpt News	Virginia	53,418
Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn	Florida	244,682
Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	189,031
Phoenix (Prescott)	Arizona	96,658
Portland	Oregon	73,988
Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville)	North Carolina	103,707
Salt Lake City	Utah	144,192
San Antonio	Texas	66,227
St. Louis	Missouri	89,680
Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota)	Florida	214,232
Washington, DC (Hagerstown)	Virginia/Maryland/District of Columbia	131,177
West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce	Florida	140,446

Glossary

Plan Selections: The cumulative metric represents the total number of people who have submitted an application and selected a plan, net of any cancellations from a consumer or cancellations from an insurer that have occurred to date. The biweekly metric represents the net change in the number of non-cancelled plan sections over the two-week period covered by the report.

Plan selections will include those consumers who are automatically re-enrolled into a plan, which occurs at the end of December.

To have their coverage effectuated, consumers generally need to pay their first month’s health plan premium. This release does not report the number of effectuated enrollments.

New Consumers: A consumer is considered to be a new consumer if they did not have Marketplace coverage at the start of Open Enrollment on November 1^st, 2016.

Renewing Consumers: A consumer is considered to be a renewing consumer if they had 2016 Marketplace coverage on November 1^st, 2016 at the start of Open Enrollment and either actively select the same plan or a new plan for 2017 or are automatically re-enrolled into a plan, which occurs at the end of December.

Marketplace: Generally, references to the Health Insurance Marketplace in this report refer to 39 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform. The states using the HealthCare.gov platform are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

HealthCare.gov States: The 39 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform for the 2017 benefit year, including the Federally-facilitated Marketplaces, State Partnership Marketplaces and State-based Marketplaces that have opted to use the HealthCare.gov platform.

Consumers on Applications Submitted: This includes consumers who are requesting coverage on a completed and submitted application, including an application that is created through the automatic re-enrollment process, which occurs at the end of December, in a state that is using the HealthCare.gov platform. If determined eligible for Marketplace coverage, a new consumer still needs to pick a health plan (i.e., plan selection) and pay their premium to get covered (i.e., effectuated enrollment). Because families can submit a single application, this figure tallies the total number of people requesting coverage on a submitted application (rather than the total number of submitted applications).

Call Center Volume: The total number of calls received by the call center for the 39 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform over the course of the weeks covered by the snapshot or from the start of Open Enrollment. Calls with Spanish speaking representatives are not included.

Calls with Spanish Speaking Representative: The total number of calls received by the Federally-facilitated Marketplace call center where consumers chose to speak with a Spanish-speaking representative. These calls are not included within the Call Center Volume metric.

HealthCare.gov or CuidadodeSalud.gov Users: These user metrics total how many unique users viewed or interacted with HealthCare.gov or CuidadodeSalud.gov, respectively, over the course of a specific date range. For cumulative totals, a separate report is run for the entire Open Enrollment period to minimize users being counted more than once during that longer range of time and to provide a more accurate estimate of unique users. Depending on an individual’s browser settings and browsing habits, a visitor may be counted as a unique user more than once.

Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users or CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users: These user metrics total how many unique users interacted with the window-shopping tool at HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov, respectively, over the course of a specific date range. For cumulative totals, a separate report is run for the entire Open Enrollment period to minimize users being counted more than once during that longer range of time and to provide a more accurate estimate of unique users. Depending on an individual’s browser settings and browsing habits, a visitor may be counted as a unique user more than once. Users who window-shopped are also included in the total HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov user total.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016