(Baltimore, MD – Insurance News 360) – On Jan. 3, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final snapshot for the 2019 Federal exchange open enrollment period. Enrollment was steady, with more than 8.4 million enrolling. The CMS says this represents steady enrollment when a strengthening economy and job Dmarket may be reducing need and demand for subsidized healthcare.

Several factors may have contributed:

More than two million jobs were added to the economy, compared to the prior year, which led to the lowest unemployment rate in nearly 50 years.

More people had access to job-based health coverage.

Virginia’s Medicaid population expanded, and that means 100,000 exchange enrollees would be eligible for expanded Medicaid.

“Congratulations to everyone at CMS who executed another very successful Open Enrollment period through HealthCare.gov.  Our team worked day and night to ensure those who wanted coverage on the Exchange could easily pick a plan,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.

Similar to last year, CMS committed resources to cost-effective, high-impact outreach during this year’s Open Enrollment that increased as the deadline approached. For instance, CMS sent over 700 million reminder emails and text messages to consumers, as well as 3.2 million outreach emails to help Navigators, agents, and brokers assist consumers.  In addition, senior Administration officials, including the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the CMS Administrator, encouraged people to enroll through television and radio interviews broadcasted to more than 195 stations across the country.

To view the final enrollment snapshot, visit: https://cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/final-weekly-enrollment-snapshot-2019-enrollment-period

Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.