The Washington Health Benefit Exchange today announced that more than 200,000 people purchased their 2019 health insurance coverage through Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s online health insurance marketplace, during the most recent open enrollment period held Nov. 1 through Dec. 15 of last year.
Even with the four percent decrease in total number of enrollments reported from February of 2018, the Exchange saw more than 90 percent of those who selected a 2019 health plan during the open enrollment period make their initial premium payment.
A 4% drop may sound bad, but total QHP selections during OE6 were actually down 8.3% year over year (from 243K to 223K), so this is actually an improvement in that sense. 90.5% of those who selected policies are still effectuated as of February this year vs. 86.4% as of February in 2018.
Monday: Newly sworn-in California Governor Gavin Newsom announces he's pushing for further Medicaid expansion to undocumented young adults; reinstating the mandate penalty; raising the subsidy cap; going All-Payer on prescription medications; and creating a state-level Surgeon General position
Gov. Jay Inslee and Democratic lawmakers Tuesday announced proposed legislation for a new “public option” health-care plan under Washington’s health-insurance exchange.
The proposal, which Inslee said is the first step toward universal health care, is geared in part to help stabilize the exchange, which has wrestled with double-digit premium increases and attempts by Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
“We are proposing to the state Legislature that we have a public option that is available throughout the state of Washington so that we can increase the ability to move forward on the road to universal health care in the state of Washington,” said the governor, who is considering a run for president in 2020.
Limited Time Special Enrollment Period for 2019 Coverage
Posted on: December 17, 2018
Did you hit a snag trying to enroll in 2019 coverage during open enrollment? The Health Benefit Exchange is offering a special enrollment for individuals who were not able to enroll before the end of Open Enrollment.
You still have the chance to enroll in 2019 coverage
In light of this year’s shortened open enrollment period along with other barriers, you still have the chance to enroll in 2019 coverage. If you were unable to select a plan before the close of open enrollment and you would like to enroll in a 2019 plan, contact Customer Support (1-855-923-4633) no later than December 20, 2018! Once you have contacted Customer Support, you will have until December 28, 2018 to select a plan. Plans will still be effective on January 1, 2019.
Washington Healthplanfinder Sign-Ups Surge Past 222,000 In Strong Final Weekend
More than 11,000 plans selected during open enrollment’s closing hours, additional sign-ups expected this week
December 17, 2018
The Washington Health Benefit Exchange today announced that a total of 222,636 customers selected a 2019 health plan through Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s online health insurance marketplace, by last Saturday’s midnight deadline to enroll. The total number of plan selections is only slightly lower than the 242,000 sign-ups posted during the 2018 open enrollment period that stretched one month longer.
A couple of weeks ago I reported that the Washington Health Benefit Exchange had enrolled over 196,000 people in ACA exchange policies as of November 28th, putting them about 3% ahead of last year's tally as of the same date.
OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington Health Benefit Exchange is alerting all customers today that less than 72 hours remain before the deadline to sign up in 2019 health and dental coverage through Washington Healthplanfinder. Customers who have not yet selected a plan have until the close of open enrollment at 11:59 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 15 to select their coverage for next year.
A couple of weeks ago I reported that the Washington Health Benefit Exchange reported enrolling a seemingingly astonishing 190,000 people into 2019 policies in just the first 10 days of the 2019 Open Enrollment Period. This is highly misleading, of course, because only a small fraction of these are new enrollees, and a somewhat larger portion are current enrollees actively renewing their policies.
The vast bulk of that 190K are current enrollees who are auto-renewed into 2019 policies by the exchange itself...with the option to then actively go into the system and opt to cancel their renewals if they wish. There's nothing wrong with this, and in fact more and more of the state exchanges seem to be doing it this way as they improve and streamline their software (I've confirmed that Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Washington State are "front-loading" autorenewals this year, although Maryland hasn't actually reported their data yet).
Last year, the Washington Health Benefit Exchange reported enrolling roughly 4,500 new ACA exchange enrollees in the first 8 days, which was a whopping 53% increase over 2017. This was in addition to what I estimated was roughly 13,000 current enrollees actively renewing their existing policies or switching to a different one, for a total of perhaps 17,500 QHP selections.
Despite changes to the Affordable Care Act during the past couple of years, local health-insurance officials are optimistic that the state’s health-insurance exchange will flourish in 2019.
Since enrollment for 2019 began Nov. 1, about 190,000 people have signed up for health insurance through the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, which is about 5 percent more than the same period last year.
OK, this is a pretty minor update, but in the interest of completeness I should post it.
In mid-September, the Washington State insurance commissioner posted the approved 2019 average ACA individual market premium changes for carriers statewide, coming in at 13.8% overall.
The only problem is that the report only included the seven on-exchange ACA market carriers. The four carriers which offer off-exchange policies (which are pretty much identical and are part of the same risk pool, but don't qualify for tax credits) weren't included. They make up roughly 23% of Washington State's total individual market.
Today, just a few days before Open Enrollment begins, the WA Insurance Commissioner posted the complete approved rate change information. The overall average has dropped slightly, to 13.6%:
Eleven insurers approved to sell 74 plans in Washington's 2019 individual market
13.57 percent average rate increase approved
Ensure that young adults can continue to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26
Prohibit insurers from using applicants’ gender to set premiums
Prohibit insurers from rejecting an application based on an applicant’s medical history, or imposing coverage exclusions based on pre-existing conditions.
Today, however, there were major developments regarding #ShortAssPlan restrictions (and a few other important patient protection bills) in three states: Two positive, one negative.
