DENVER- December 8, 2021, is Get Covered Colorado Day. The day of action is to encourage as many Coloradans as possible to enroll in 2022 health coverage during the annual Open Enrollment Period. Open Enrollment is the time of year to renew your health plan, change plans or sign up for a plan if you’re uninsured. This year, more residents shopping through Colorado’s health insurance exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, can expect increased plan choice and even more health insurance savings.
“Ensuring every Coloradan has access to high-quality, affordable health care has been a primary focus of our Administration since day one,” said Lt. Governor and Director of the Office of Saving People Money on Health Care Dianne Primavera. “Get Covered Colorado Day is the perfect opportunity for uninsured Coloradans to sign up, or to remind friends and family that they can save money on their health care by shopping for plans on Connect for Health Colorado.”
Yesterday there was a bit of a brouhaha caused when NPR reporters Geoff Brumfiel and Daniel Wood published an in-depth report on the partisan divide when it comes to county-level COVID-19 vaccination and death rates, which was heavily influenced by my own work over the past seven months, including two hour-long interviews in which we went into in-depth discussions of data sources, methodology and conclusions.
The controversial aspect was due to the fact that their published piece originally failed to mention my involvement or assistance in any way whatsoever.
After being called out on this by myself and others, Brumfiel called me to personally apologize and rectify the situation. To his credit, he took full responsibility and specifically noted that his colleague, Daniel Wood, had nothing to do with the oversight. Also to his credit, he arranged for the NPR story to be quickly updated to mention my assistance by name as well as to link to one of my own related COVID data analysis posts:
Pro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates. Misinformation is to blame
by Daniel Wood, Geoff Brumfiel
Since May 2021, people living in counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump during the last presidential election have been nearly three times as likely to die from COVID-19 as those who live in areas that went for now-President Biden. That's according to a new analysis by NPR that examines how political polarization and misinformation are driving a significant share of the deaths in the pandemic.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace (OHIM) today released an update on plan selections through CoverME.gov, Maine’s new Health Insurance Marketplace.
OHIM provided the first update on November 18 and will continue updates every two weeks throughout open enrollment, which began on November 1, 2021 and ends on January 15, 2022.
Since the start of open enrollment through November 27 on CoverME.gov:
In week four of the 2022 Open Enrollment Period, over 37,000 New Mexicans have an active plan selection. This includes 4,698 existing enrollees who chose a new plan or actively chose to keep their current plan, 2,505 new consumers, and 30,509 passive re-enrollees. There were also 8,061 dental plan selections. Consistent with CMS, enrollment weeks are measured Sunday through Saturday.
Passive enrollees were handled earlier for this year to support the transition from Healthcare.gov to New Mexico’s solution. This offers additional time for payment to ensure that New Mexicans who have a plan stay covered. Individuals can still shop, compare, and change their plan.
The headline choice in this Nevada Health Link press release confused me a bit at first when I saw the larger number later on, but I sorted it out:
Nevada Health Link Enrolls 17,452 Nevadans in First Month of Open Enrollment Period
CARSON CITY, NV) – Nearly 17,452 Nevadans have actively enrolled in qualified health insurance plans within the first 30 days of open enrollment through Nevada Health Link. The Open Enrollment Period (OEP) for the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange (Exchange), Nevada’s state agency that helps individuals get connected to affordable health and dental coverage, began on November 1, 2021 and runs through January 15, 2022.
The key phrasing here is "actively enrolled." The 17,452 figure only includes new enrollees or current enrollees who have actively logged into their account and selected a new plan (or renewed their existing one) for 2022. It doesn't include current enrollees who have been auto-renewed.
Certified Enrollment Assistors will be On Site at Libraries Across NYC to Help New Yorkers Enroll in Quality, Affordable Health Coverage
ALBANY, N.Y. (December 02, 2021) – NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, today announced that NY State of Health Certified Enrollment Assistors will be available at NY Public Libraries across New York City to educate New Yorkers about enrolling in quality, affordable health coverage. Certified Enrollment Assistors can provide in person assistance at more than 10 libraries throughout December and January to answer questions, make appointments and help with enrollment. Details are available here.
Maine DHHS Releases First CoverME.gov Open Enrollment Snapshot
AUGUSTA— The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace (OHIM) announced today that 8,278 Mainers have selected plans for affordable health coverage in 2022 through CoverME.gov, Maine’s new Health Insurance Marketplace, during the first two weeks of Open Enrollment from November 1-13. This includes 862 new and 7,416 returning consumers.
At CoverME.gov, Maine people can compare plans, apply for financial assistance, and enroll in a 2022 health plan.
In week four of the 2022 Open Enrollment Period, approximately 569,000 people selected individual market plans through the 33 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform. During the Open Enrollment Period, to date, approximately 3,004,000 people have selected individual market plans on HealthCare.gov. As in past years, enrollment weeks are measured Sunday through Saturday.
The final number of plan selections associated with enrollment activity during a reporting period may change due to plan modifications or cancellations. In addition, the weekly snapshot only reports new plan selections and active plan renewals and does not report the number of consumers who have paid premiums to effectuate their enrollment.
Here's the weekly look at the rate of COVID-19 cases & deaths at the county level since the end of June, broken out by partisan lean (i.e, what percent of the vote Donald Trump received in 2020).
The ratio of case rates has started to drop; new cases are now running 2.71x higher per capita in the reddest tenth of the country than the bluest tenth, down from 3.0x higher five weeks ago:
