Connecticut: At least 8,000 QHPs, 21K Medicaid UPDATE: New enrollees only

Hmmm...on the surface these numbers seem fairly clear: 8,058 QHPs, 20,942 Medicaid. However, the wording of the article, combined with the fact that 8K in 26 days is only 310/day so far (versus 2014's 396/day average) makes me suspect that this only refers to new enrollments and doesn't include renewals of existing enrollees. In addition, the previous data release by AccessHealthCT clarified that it only included new enrollments.

So far, in the ongoing round of open enrollment that began Nov. 15, some 8,058 Connecticut residents have enrolled in plans offered by private insurers and 20,942 have enrolled in Medicaid plans, Madrak said. That’s more than the first year at around this time. However, the numbers last year were reversed and some 14,365 residents enrolled with one of the private insurance carriers and 9,075 had enrolled in Medicaid through the close of business Dec. 4, 2013

If this only includes new enrollees, then the odds are that the total number is actually at least double that (16K+) and likely more like 20K+.

As an aside, it's worth noting that the "reversed numbers last year" sentence which follows is a bit of an unfair comparison since that included a whopping 65 days of the open enrollment period as opposed to this year's 26. Yes, the enrollment period is half the length this year as well, but it's still not really an apples-to-apples comparison; a fair comparison would be to only use the first 51 days last year, or around November 20th, 2013. I don't know what Connecticut's tally was for 11/20/13, but it was 4,418 on 11/02/13 and 11,631 as of 11/30/13, so I'd imagine it was right around...8,000 or so at around 11/20 as well.

UPDATE: I just received confirmation from the editor of CT News Junkie that the 8K figure only includes new enrollments. Therefore, just like California, I'm going to double the total (it's likely more like a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio, but 1:1 seems reasonable to me for the moment):

So my reporter tells me those numbers are only new enrollees and not renewals. I will find out the number of renewals for you as soon as possible. Hopefully we get more numbers soon on the overall program as the Monday deadline approaches.