During the recent Medicare Open Enrollment period, roughly 8.3 million people selected individual market plans through the Marketplaces using the federal platform. This total enrollment is nearly the same as enrollments during the 2020 Open Enrollment Period, despite the fact that New Jersey and Pennsylvania transitioned to State-based Exchange platforms starting with the 2021 Open Enrollment Period. As a result of their transition, selections in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are not included in this snapshot. After removing these states from the total plan selection totals in the 2020 Open Enrollment Period and comparing year-over-year trends shows plan selections this year increased by 7.0% from 2020 despite a decline in new consumers.
Additionally, CMS released a report showing the third consecutive year of improving market conditions, including lower premiums and more plan options.