Healthcare Insurance Marketplace Sign-Ups drop….

Enrollment in the insurance plans offered under the 2010 health care law appears to be lagging heading into the final stretch of the sign-up period.

Overall enrollment is down roughly 11 percent compared to this point last year, suggesting the final federal exchange numbers may end up lower than last year.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Thursday that 773,250 people signed up for plans during the fifth open enrollment week, bringing the total number of people who selected plans on the federal exchange ahead of the 2019 plan year to 3,198,163.

To be sure, that’s an increase in the number of people who selected plans compared to the fourth week of this year’s enrollment, when 500,437 people chose a plan.

Still, since open enrollment began Nov. 1, the weekly enrollment numbers released by CMS have shown fewer people enrolling than last year, when 11.8 million people signed up for plans on the exchanges set up by the 2010 law. Sign-ups typically pick up during the final stretch of the sign-up period, which lasts six weeks for the second year in a row.

Enrollment in most states ends Dec. 15, though it runs into January in a handful of states.

A combination of factors may be leading to a decrease in sign-ups this year, including federal policy changes, less federal spending on advertising and outreach, and a lower unemployment rate that could mean more people are obtaining insurance through their employers, said Karen Pollitz, a Kaiser Family Foundation senior fellow.

Although people who previously signed up for coverage will be re-enrolled at the end of the sign-up period, she said the roughly 18 percent drop in new customers choosing plans this year is “troublesome.”….

More…