News Briefs: Nearly 7.3M Sign Up for Exchange Coverage

Since open enrollment began on Nov. 1, nearly 7.3 million people have signed up for Affordable Care Act health exchange plans for 2024, according to CMS. The data is through Dec. 2 for the 32 states that use the HealthCare.gov website and through Nov. 25 for the 18 states and Washington, D.C., that have state-based exchanges. More than 1.6 million of the people who enrolled, or about 23% of the total, did not have marketplace coverage in 2023. Enrollment runs through Jan. 15, 2024, for the states using HealthCare.gov, while the deadlines vary for state-based exchanges.  

Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s health services arm, employs or has contracts with nearly 90,000 physicians and an additional 40,000 advanced practice clinicians, according to Optum Health CEO Amar A. Desai, M.D. Since there are about 950,000 active physicians in the country, that means Optum employs just under 10% of them. Desai, who spoke at UnitedHealth’s investor meeting on Nov. 29, added that Optum serves not only UnitedHealth’s members but also beneficiaries from more than 100 health plans. In addition, Optum serves more than 4 million people in fully accountable care arrangements and expects that number to increase to 5 million by late 2024.