open enrollment

Definition of open enrollment

1a chiefly US : the voluntary enrollment of a student in a public school other than the one assigned on the basis of residence Carnegie Vanguard High would continue to offer open enrollment to students from across the district and would still likely offer transportation to all its students.— Shelby Webb

b chiefly US : enrollment on demand as a student in an institution of higher learning irrespective of formal qualifications Open enrollment, long the hallmark of the community college, may soon be a thing of the past.— Rick Diguette

2 chiefly US : a period of time during which someone can join something (such as a health insurance plan) as a member or participant : a period of time during which a person can enroll in something Just one in four people who buy their own insurance or who are uninsured could name the correct deadline (December 15) for open enrollment, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll taken last month.— Dylan Scott

Examples of open enrollment in a Sentence

Many voters support open enrollment. the city's open enrollment policy Employees can sign up for new benefits during open enrollment.

Recent Examples on the Web The program just signed up 145,000 people for health insurance in the open enrollment period. — oregonlive, "Non-citizens on government assistance face new scrutiny," 1 Feb. 2020 The main impact of this increase, ironically, was to make suburban district seats available through open enrollment. — Matthew Ladner, National Review, "Arizona’s Success with Charter Schools Is a Model Other States Would Be Wise to Follow," 8 Nov. 2019 The state’s marketplace for individual health insurance closed its annual open enrollment period Monday with 117,520 policy signups. — Christopher Magan, Twin Cities, "MNsure CEO says seventh open enrollment period numbers strong," 24 Dec. 2019 National enrollment is down by 6% over this time last year, according to federal data ending Dec. 7, which was week six of an open enrollment period that began Nov. 1. — Stephanie Innes, azcentral, "Arizona enrollment in Obamacare is down by 17% and time is running out," 13 Dec. 2019 Tap the photo above to learn more, as open enrollment ends Dec. 15. — courant.com, "Dec. 9, 2019: Red flags," 9 Dec. 2019 But as open enrollment goes into the home stretch Thanksgiving week, critics say the new tool can create confusion by obscuring out-of-pocket costs that seniors should factor into their decisions. — Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, USA TODAY, "Medicare drug plan glitch could cost you money: What you need to know," 22 Nov. 2019 That has worsened since October, as open enrollment started and the unwanted pitches for suspicious, low-cost health insurance started to roll in. — Washington Post, "Suspicious robocalls pitching health insurance surged in October. Now, the feds are scrambling to act.," 19 Nov. 2019 In other states, whose charter systems don’t unlock open enrollment, competition is constrained. — Matthew Ladner, National Review, "Arizona’s Success with Charter Schools Is a Model Other States Would Be Wise to Follow," 8 Nov. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'open enrollment.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

6 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Open enrollment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/open%20enrollment. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.

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