ObamaCare's HealthCare.gov is now open for 2015 window shopping


HealthCare.gov is hoping to get a second chance to make a first impression. Thirteen and a half months after its infamously rocky launch, the ObamaCare federal health insurance exchange website opened for shopping on Sunday night. People can't enroll (or re-enroll) for next year's insurance policy until open enrollment starts Nov. 15, but the site will allow people to comparison-shop beforehand. The federal site serves 37 states.
Federal officials are encouraging people to return to window shop instead of automatically re-upping their plans from last year, because prices have dropped on a number of policies. The pre–open enrollment browsing was supposed to open Friday, and while "functionality has been ready for a while," says Andy Slavitt, HHS principal deputy administrator, "obviously we've been continuing to test it."
A new analysis of plans in 17 states and Washington, D.C., by the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found average premiums dropping in six states, rising up to 5 percent in 10 states, and rising more than 5 percent in two. A separate Kaiser Family Foundation look at plans in 16 states found slightly lower prices in general, but changes ranging from a 8.7 percent hike to a 15.6 percent drop. if you live in one of the 37 states that uses the federal site, you can check prices and plans here.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Tea app hack: user data stolen from women's dating safety app
In The Spotlight Data leak has led to fears users could be targeted by men angered by the app's premise
-
The Assassin: action-packed caper is 'terrific fun'
The Week Recommends Keeley Hawes stars as a former hitwoman drawn out of retirement for 'one last job'
-
The EPA wants to green-light approval for a twice-banned herbicide
Under the radar Dicamba has been found to harm ecosystems
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year high
Speed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, change
Speed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panel
speed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kids
Speed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sick
speed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last year
speed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive order
speed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths