Most of the early wave of health insurance enrollees are older than 45, records show

By Kelly Kennedy, January 13, 2014

More than half of the almost 2.2 million people who bought health insurance on federal and state exchanges in the past three months are older than 45, records released Monday show.

If that trend holds, it could skew the health insurance market as older policyholders that use more health care are not balanced by younger policyholders who tend to use less health care. In effect, the younger policyholders subsidize older ones.

Almost 1.2 million people have enrolled in private insurance through the federal health care exchange from Oct. 1 to Dec. 28, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, and more than 1 million signed up in December alone.

Another 956,000 people have signed up for private insurance through state-based exchanges between Oct. 1 and Dec. 28, HHS records show.

About 55% of the early enrollees, Sebelius and other officials said, are between the ages of 45 and 64.