Of the more than 208,301 Connecticut residents who signed up for health insurance between October and March through the state’s public health exchange, Access Health CT, online enrollment proved to be the most popular channel, according to a survey commissioned by the exchange.
The survey, conducted by The Pert Group of Farmington, found that 45 percent of private plan enrollees and 40 percent of Medicaid plan enrollees signed up online. That equates to approximately 87,256 people, according to the data in the survey.
Access Health’s call center, which helped approximately 45,269 people enroll, was the second most popular option.
“One of the key takeaways from this research was that Access Health CT was really successful in supporting a “do-it-yourself” enrollment process,” Chris Barnes, Pert’s senior vice president of client development, said in a statement.
Barnes said the results show that Connecticut’s systems worked better than has been reported in some other states.
That could be a good sign for the exchange as it approaches its second open enrollment period in November. The Connecticut Mirror reported this week that the exchange is planning a smaller enrollment and marketing push, partly due to not having federal funds this time around.
The survey results also revealed more detail about racial characteristics of the customer base. More than a quarter of private plan enrollees and 44 percent of Medicaid enrollees are African American or Hispanic.
While 46 percent of white enrollees were previously uninsured, 68 percent and 63 percent of black and Hispanic enrollees, respectively, were previously uninsured, the survey found.
Overall, 54 percent of enrollees were uninsured in the year prior to signing up. And approximately 70 percent said they had used their coverage already.
Pert surveyed 6,015 enrollees by phone between July and September.
