Over 800,000 new and renewing consumers selected plans during the fifth week of open enrollment as the final week to sign up on the healthcare.gov marketplace begins, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The deadline to enroll for January 1 coverage is December 15.
In total, 2.84 million consumers have made plan selections since open enrollment began November 1, according to CMS. More than 1 million are new customers to health coverage offered through the Affordable Care Act and another 1.8 million people have renewed their plans for 2016.
There were more enrollments this past week than over the same period last year – the third consecutive week this has occurred, according to CMS.
The number of new consumers compared to those renewing plans remains fairly consistent since November 1. In week five, the number of new consumers is 37 percent compared to 36 percent cumulative for Nov. 1-Dec. 5, and the number of those renewing is 63 and 64 percent respectively.
"While we have more work to do, more than 1 million new consumers have signed up for affordable quality coverage through healthcare.gov," said Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. "And the average returning Marketplace consumer who has shopped and chosen a new plan will pay less in premiums after their tax credits this year than they were paying last year."
Healthcare.gov is used by the federally-facilitated marketplaces and state partnership marketplaces, as well as some state-based marketplaces. Thirty-eight states use the healthcare.gov platform.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse