Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Almost 52,000 people have enrolled in health plans on the state's online insurance marketplace, which launched Nov. 15, exchange officials reported Friday. As of Dec. 4, 29,543 signed up for private plans on the exchange, created under the federal Affordable Care Act to cover people who do not get their insurance from employers. Another 22,253 enrolled in Medicaid through the exchange by phone, in person or at marylandhealthconnection.gov. Open enrollment lasts until Feb. 15, but those who need insurance Jan. 1 must enroll by Dec. 18. And everyone who enrolled in private plans last year must re-enroll to keep federal subsidies. (Cohn, 12/5)

Nearly 52,000 people have enrolled for health coverage in Maryland since the second enrollment period began last month, the state’s health care exchange said Friday. Of those enrollees, 29,543 have signed up for private insurance plans for 2015. Another 22,253 enrolled in Medicaid. The updated enrollment numbers are for Nov. 15 through Thursday. (12/5)

Only about one in 10 Oregonians who previously signed up for private health care insurance through the state health insurance exchange has re-enrolled through the federal portal, officials said. The state abandoned the troubled Cover Oregon health care site in the spring and switched to the federal site, HealthCare.gov. Open enrollment on the federal site runs through mid-February. But all those who bought coverage through the now-defunct state exchange must re-enroll via the federal site by Dec. 15 or face a break in coverage in January. (Wozniacka, 12/5)

More insurers, more choices, more confusion — and a shorter time to sort it all out. That's what consumers are facing in the second year of the Michigan Health Insurance Marketplace, established under federal health reform. Enrollment began Nov. 15 and the first deadline is just eight days away — Dec. 15. That's to buy health care coverage that will kick in Jan. 1. Plans purchased between Dec. 16 and the close of enrollment, Feb. 15, are effective the following month if they're purchased and paid for by the 15th. In 73 of Michigan's 83 counties, the number of plan options on the exchange have more than doubled, according to an analysis by the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation in Ann Arbor. (Erb, 12/7)

Last year, health reform supporters and advocates had pent-up demand on their side. This year bringing new consumers to the marketplace will require outreach that stretches much further. By the time the marketplace launched last year — Oct. 1 — customers who had been denied coverage or couldn't afford coverage previously were ready to enroll. In fact, the surge to the www.healthcare.gov website was initially blamed for its repeated technical snags. By the close of the six-month inaugural enrollment period March 31 — and after many of the technical knots had been unraveled — 272,539 Michiganders had chosen plans, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. And Healthy Michigan, the state's expanded Medicaid plan, has enrolled more than 464,000 people since it launched at 12:01 a.m. April 1 — far surpassing its first-year goal of 322,000, according to state officials But this year — after enrollment opened Nov. 15 — there hasn't been the same surge. (Erb, 12/7)