Arkansas: 44.7K QHPs thru 4/21

This AR update is noteworthy for being the first enrollment update I've received which actually includes a reference to...myself!

Through yesterday, almost 45,000 Arkansans have selected plans on the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace, the new marketplace created by Obamacare, according to information released today by the Arkansas Insurance Department (see county  by county map above). Open enrollment is now closed, though people who submitted a paper application by April 7 have until the end of the month to enroll and pick a plan. We may also see this number creep up in the next few weeks as the carriers continue to receive data from the feds. 

As in the rest of the country, Arkansas saw a surge in enrollment recently: more than 7,800 people signed up between March 25 and April 7 and then an additional 3,263 people signed up in the last two weeks. But while national enrollment in the marketplaces across the country surpassed initial  projections, Arkansas has thus far fallen a little short in 2014. The original target for Arkansas enrollment from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) in September 2013 was 51,000 — Arkansas is currently at 87.5 percent of that target. However, enrollment guru Charles Gaba found that an appropriate projection for Arkansas would be 62,000. Arkansas Insurance Department officials had once hoped to enroll more than 100,000, but this was inclusive of the Small Business Health Options Program, which ended up getting delayed significantly. 

...The 44,655 figure does not include enrollment in the private option, the state's policy for Medicaid expansion which purchases plans on the Marketplace for folks that make less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level (about $16,000 for an individual or $33,000 for a family of four). More than 120,000 people and counting have enrolled in Marketplace plans via the private option.