WASHINGTON – Between 80 percent and 90 percent of new health exchange enrollees have paid their first month’s premium, insurers told a House panel Wednesday.
“We are seeing strong membership growth, and large percentages of our newly enrolled are successfully paying their premiums by the due date,” Dennis Matheis, president of WellPoint’s central region and exchange strategy, said.
Matheis said 70 percent of all new enrollees had paid their first premium but not all premiums were due by April 15, the deadline for which the committee had asked for numbers. About 90 percent of those whose first due date had passed had paid their premiums, he said.
“It is typically human nature” for people to wait until the last minute to pay their premiums, he said.
The insurers appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee to talk about payment percentages and enrollment numbers. Another panel, the House Ways and Means Committee, released a report last week emphasizing that only 70 percent of enrollees had paid their premiums, while the insurers themselves emphasized that people still had time to pay.
“We recognize that many individuals still have time to pay their first month’s premium, which is why we have asked insurers to update this information on May 20,” said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa. “Let’s be clear about why we had to engage in this exercise in the first place: The administration would not be transparent about enrollment and implementation.”
But Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., called the enrollment a “success” with more than 8 million people signed up for private plans.
“Of these, more than 3 million Americans waited until the last month of enrollment to sign up for insurance, which made their first payments due April 30 or later,” she said, adding the Republicans’ report on premiums was deliberately misleading.
Health Care Service Corp. processed about 830,000 applications, said J. Darren Rodgers, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, with that representing about 1.3 million people. While emphasizing that not all payment deadlines have passed, he said paid premiums are in the mid-80 percent range so far.
And Paul Wingle, executive director of individual business and public exchange operations and strategy at Aetna, said 600,000 people had enrolled and 500,000 people had paid.
“For those who had reached their payment due date, the payment rate, though dynamic, has been in the low- to mid-80 percent range,” Wingle said.
Frank Coyne, vice president for operations for Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, said about 284,000 people had enrolled in their plans but did not state how many had paid their first premiums.
Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, asked the insurers if the Obama administration knows how many people have paid their premiums. The insurers said no.
“It’s my understanding that that capability is not present yet,” Matheis said.
Matheis said there hasn’t been a member-by-member breakdown.
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