The federal health insurance marketplace, HealthCare.gov, saw a decline in plan selections during its 10th week of the second open enrollment period.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the 10th week, between Jan. 17 and Jan. 23, saw 137,298 plan selections on HealthCare.gov. The plan selections represent the "preliminary total of those who have submitted an application and selected the plan that best fits their needs." In comparison to Week Nine of the second open enrollment period, the HHS noted it received 400,253 plan selections. Week Nine, however, coincided with the Jan. 15 deadline for enrollees who want their health insurance coverage to start on Feb. 1.

Since the second open enrollment period began on Nov. 15, HealthCare.gov has received 7,293,989 plan selections.

Consumers' usage of HealthCare.gov's Spanish-language services also declined. The Spanish-language website, CuidadoDeSalud.gov, attracted 125,501 users during Week 10, which helped bring its cumulative total since Nov. 15 to 888,379 users. Calls for a Spanish-speaking representative also declined from 128,189 calls to 78,875 calls for Week 10. Since the start of the second open enrollment period, the Spanish-language call center received 877,317 calls.

In contrast, the English-speaking call center made it over the 10 million volume mark. During Week 10, 686,302 calls were made for an English-speaking representative. Visits to HealthCare.gov slipped from 3.7 million to nearly 2.6 million users. Since Nov. 15, HealthCare.gov has attracted 22.9 million users.

Prior to HHS disclosing Week 10's enrollment data, the HHS revealed 9.5 million Americans across the country have selected or were automatically enrolled to a health plan. Of the 9.5 million enrollees, over 7.1 million consumers are from the 37 states using the federal HealthCare.gov health insurance enrollment platform. The 14 states and Washington, D.C., which utilizes a state-based enrollment platform, have accumulated 2.4 million plan selections. 

The HHS noted millennials, an age group of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34, have enrolled at a slighter higher rate than the first open enrollment period. From the federal and state-based health insurance platforms, millennials represent 26 percent of the enrollees based on data since the second open enrollment began through Jan. 16. In comparison to the same time period from the first open enrollment period, 25 percent of enrollees were millennials.

While tax season is underway, the U.S. Treasury Department revealed nearly six million people could pay a penalty with not having health insurance coverage during 2014.

Mark Mazur, assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department, reportedly revealed between 2 and 4 percent of all taxpayers apparently lacked health insurance and do not qualify for exemptions. Mazur also noted 15 million to 30 million people, or between 10 percent and 20 percent of taxpayers, were uninsured yet are eligible for exemptions. The exemptions will void the $95 or 1 percent of the household income penalty.

The second open enrollment period concludes on Feb. 15.

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