New Hampshire is on track to sign up about 20 percent fewer people under the Affordable Care Act during this year’s enrollment period.
Open enrollment for the New Hampshire ACA marketplace is still open – through December 15. So far about 11,400 people have signed up for health insurance plans. That compares to about 15,000 at the same point last year.
Nationally, sign-ups are down about 13 percent.
Some health policy experts are blaming the decline on steep cuts in the federal government’s budget for advertising the health insurance marketplaces.
There’s also less federal money for so-called navigators, who help guide people through the sign-up process. In New Hampshire, there was no federal money for navigators because no organizations applied for the grants.