Maryland

Maryland Health Connection

via Maryland Health Connection:

200,000 MARYLANDERS GAINED HEALTH COVERAGE THROUGH THE CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL ENROLLMENT

  • Special enrollment in response to pandemic ran from March 2020 to August 2021

(BALTIMORE) — A total of 201,141 Marylanders enrolled through the Coronavirus Emergency Special Enrollment on Maryland Health Connection from March 16, 2020 to its conclusion on Aug. 15, 2021.

The numbers here are certainly good news and pretty impressive, but it's really, really important to keep that start date in mind when looking at them.

The 17-month special enrollment in response to the pandemic was one of the longest of any state in the country. It was extended several times in 2020 and 2021 as the emergency continued. In all:

Maryland Health Connection

via Maryland Health Connection:

(BALTIMORE) — Michele Eberle, executive director of Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, issues the following statement:

As we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the creation of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange this month, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land. This is great news for all Marylanders, including more than 1 million of our neighbors, friends and family covered through Maryland Health Connection. They will continue to have access to quality health insurance plans and financial help for those who qualify. Maryland Health Connection remains open for business and we encourage anyone in need of health insurance to check out their options today. There are new, bigger savings this year. Now more than ever, it’s worth taking a look.

Maryland

I've once again relaunched my project from last fall to track Medicaid enrollment (both standard and expansion alike) on a monthly basis for every state dating back to the ACA being signed into law.

For the various enrollment data, I'm using data from Medicaid.gov's Medicaid Enrollment Data Collected Through MBES reports. Unfortunately, they've only published enrollment data through December 2020. In some states I've been able to get more recent enrollment data from state websites and other sources.

Today I'm presenting Maryland. For enrollment data from January 2021 on, I'm relying on adjusted estimates based on raw data from the Maryland Health Department.

Total Medicaid enrollment in Maryland (including expansion) hovered around 1.2 million for a few years prior to the COVID pandemic hitting last February. Since then, enrollment in non-ACA Medicaid has increased 9.6% while ACA expansion enrollment has gone up by 20%, for an overall increase of 12.2% statewide.

Maryland

 Now that I've developed a standardized format/layout & methodology for tracking both state- and county-level COVID vaccination levels by partisan lean (which can also be easily applied to other variables like education level, median income, population density, ethnicity, etc), I've started moving beyond my home state of Michigan.

Here's Maryland:

Note: The CDC lists ~39,000 Maryland residents (1.4% of the total fully vaccinated) whose county of residence is unknown.

The date on this press release is April 1st, but I didn't see it on the MD Connect website until today:

AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT DRAMATICALLY LOWERS HEALTH CARE COSTS FOR MANY MARYLANDERS

Low income individuals and families will pay nearly nothing for private health plans, higher income will be eligible for savings for the first time

(BALTIMORE) — Gov. Larry Hogan and Maryland Health Connection today announced reductions in the health plan costs that reflect additional financial help available through the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The new law means that:

In what's become a pretty expected move, the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange is also extending their COVID SEP out thru mid-August:

GOV. HOGAN ANNOUNCES EXTENSION OF STATE HEALTH INSURANCE SPECIAL ENROLLMENT PERIOD UNTIL AUG. 15

(BALTIMORE) — Gov. Larry Hogan and Maryland Health Benefit Exchange announced today that the state health insurance marketplace, Maryland Health Connection, will extend its current Coronavirus Special Enrollment Period. Uninsured Marylanders have the opportunity to enroll in health coverage now until Aug. 15.

This deadline aligns with the federal special enrollment period extension announced by President Joe Biden for those 35 states that use HealthCare.gov, the federally run health insurance marketplace.

“We are pleased to announce the additional extension of this special enrollment period to Aug. 15, which

is already one of the nation’s longest in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Governor Hogan.

“Our administration remains committed to ensuring Marylanders have access to the resources they need

Last week the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange issued a press release touting impressive enrollment numbers over the past year via their year-long COVID-19 Special Enrollment Period (SEP). The topline number was that they enrolled over 140,000 Maryland residents in either ACA exchange policies or Medicaid.

Since Medicaid enrollment is open year-round anyway, the number I'm obviously more interested in are the exchange plans, which most people can normally only enroll in during the official Open Enrollment Period each fall/winter. Since COVID has thrown that mostly into disarray, however, I've been keeping a close eye on SEP enrollment in 2020 and now in spring of 2021 as compared to the pre-COVID era, when the SEP rules were far more strictly adhered to.

The Maryland Health Benefit Exchange has issued a new press release which on the surface doesn't seem terribly unusual--it touts an impressive number of Maryland residents having gained healthcare coverage since they first launched their COVID-19 Special Enrollment Period (SEP).

What's unusual about this PR is that it's listing the cumulative number of people who've gained coverage since they launched their first COVID SEP a year ago:

MORE THAN 140,000 COVERED SINCE MARYLAND HEALTH CONNECTION LAUNCHED COVID-19 SPECIAL ENROLLMENT ONE YEAR AGO

  • 236,000 WHO STILL LACK COVERAGE COULD GET IT FOR FREE OR WITH SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL HELP

(MARCH 17, 2021) BALTIMORE — Yesterday marked one year since the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange launched a Coronavirus Emergency Special Enrollment Period in response to the public health emergency declared by Gov. Larry Hogan.

Five weeks ago the Maryland Health Connection announced they were re-opening ACA enrollment through March 15th in light of the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.

When the Biden Administration announced a few weeks later that the federal ACA exchange, HealthCare.Gov, was planning on re-opening enrollment across 36 states for a full 3 months (from Februay 15th - May 15th), however, I was pretty sure that it would only be a matter of time before most of the state-based exchanges matched up with that time window...and sure enough, via the MD Health Connection:

GOV. HOGAN ANNOUNCES EXTENSION OF STATE HEALTH INSURANCE SPECIAL ENROLLMENT PERIOD UNTIL MAY 15

Just announced moments ago:

As part of the state’s overall response to the coronavirus, and in an effort to prioritize health and safety, Maryland Health Connection opened a new special enrollment period for uninsured Marylanders to enroll in a private health plan. Here’s what you need to know:

When your coverage begins

The coronavirus emergency special enrollment period will begin immediately and ends Monday, March 15. Here are the dates coverage will begin, depending on what day you enrolled in a health plan:

  • Enroll now-Jan. 15, coverage starts Jan.1
  • Enroll Jan. 16-Feb. 15, coverage starts Feb.1
  • Enroll Feb. 16-March 15, coverage starts March.1

How do I enroll?

To enroll, visit MarylandHealthConnection.gov or download the free “Enroll MHC” mobile app. Select “Coronavirus Emergency Special Enrollment Period.”

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