Obamacare enrollments drop marginally for 2019

(Reuters) - Enrollments in healthcare plans for 2019 through the Federal Obamacare marketplace dropped marginally by 300,000 from last year, according to U.S. government figures released on Monday.

The decrease in plan selections could likely be due to lower demand for exchange coverage, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said.

About 11.4 million people signed up for 2019 healthcare plans, according to the CMS.

The agency also said it was issuing guidance to allow issuers to continue certain health plans, often referred to as "grandmothered" plans, by one year. Such plans do not meet all the rules under the Obamacare laws.

"Not extending the grandmothered plan policy would ... force people to decide between buying coverage they cannot afford on the individual market or going uninsured," CMS Administrator Seema Verma said.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru)

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