by David Doyle and Sam Habib

The latest federal government enrollment numbers for marketplace plans put into place by the Affordable Care Act are out, and for the fourth month in a row, Tennessee’s enrollment numbers place its rank in the upper half of participating states.

As they have since the marketplace’s October opening, Tennessee’s  Affordable Care Act enrollment numbers lagged behind the total national average across all states and the District of Columbia.  But at the same time, the number of new Tennessee residents enrolling in an ACA marketplace insurance plan was nonetheless enough to keep it ranked in the top 15 states in terms of marketplace enrollments for the second consecutive month.

As of February 1st, 59,705 Tennesseans enrolled in an ACA marketplace health insurance plan, nearly 5,000 short of the national average of 64,696.  Though this number is below the national average, it is skewed by the enrollment rates of high population states like California, which added over 728,000 new enrollees by the end of January, and Florida, which added nearly another 300,000.

Recent data shows that enrollment in the combined 45-64 age group rose significantly more than any other age group by 53%, while enrollment in the 18-34 age group only saw a 25% overall rise. In Tennessee, however, enrollment dropped in the 55-64 age group by 2%, from 35% to 33%, with the rates of 18-25 year olds remaining the same.

Tennessee’s enrollment numbers as of February were enough to move Tennessee into the 14th rank overall in terms of number of new enrollees.  Tennessee has consistently been in the upper half of states when ranked in terms of the number of new residents enrolling in an ACA-backed insurance plan, moving from the 20th spot as of the end of October to 15th by the end of 2013.

Tennessee’s January numbers show a relative slowdown in the number of new enrollees compared to December.  After a rocky first two months left Tennessee with just over 4,500 enrollees as of the end of November 2013, Tennessee saw a sharp upswing in enrollees, adding 31,743 new participants to its marketplace rolls in December.  January’s total of 23,455 represents a mild drop compared to December’s jump.