New York: 407K QHPs; 1.54M Medicaid, 157K CH+

Busy day! New York has issued their enrollment update:

Press Release: NY State of Health Ends Second Open Enrollment with More Than 2.1 Million Enrollees

Feb 18, 2015

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 18, 2015)—New York State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, today announced that more than 2.1 million people signed up for health insurance by the end of the second open enrollment period, which began on November 15, 2014 and ended on February 15, 2015. Eighty-eight percent of Marketplace enrollees reported that they were uninsured at the time they enrolled. New Yorkers who have enrolled in coverage through the Marketplace have overwhelmingly reported that they are satisfied with their health insurance (92 percent) and are using their coverage to access care (84 percent).

“NY State of Health’s second enrollment period ended strong with 2.1 million New Yorkers covered through the Marketplace, including nearly 408,000 individuals enrolled in a Qualified Health Plan,” said NYSOH Executive Director Donna Frescatore. “We are pleased with the results of the second open enrollment period and we appreciate the efforts of our staff and the many partner organizations who worked tirelessly over the past three months to educate and enroll additional New Yorkers in coverage through the Marketplace.”

 

...The breakdown of enrollees as of the February 15, 2015 end of open enrollment is as follows:

Total cumulative enrollment: 2,109,634
Total Medicaid enrollment: 1,545,319
Total private coverage: 564,315 (407,488 Qualified Health Plan and 156,827 CHP)
Total new 2015 enrollment: 552,993
Total new 2015 Medicaid enrollment: 373,518
Total new private coverage:  179,475 (137,410 in Qualified Health Plan and 42,065 in CHP)
Renewal rate in QHP coverage: 87%

If you look at the prior NY report, you'll note that the QHP enrollment total appears to have dropped. That's because last time they mixed the Child Health Plus program enrollees (not to be confused with CHIP) in with the Qualified Health Plans. This time they correctly separated the two out.

This is important because the official monthly ASPE reports issued by the HHS Dept. don't include Child Health Plus enrollees; that's a special, New York-specific program which belongs neither in the "QHP" nor "Medicaid/CHIP" categories.

Note that I'm not belittling or dismissing the 157,000 children enrolled in this program; that's fantastic, just like the people enrolled in MinnesotaCare (which also doesn't "count" as either QHPs or Medicaid officially). It just means that they can't be counted if I'm trying to match up my projections with HHS, that's all.

In addition, NY's exchange has enrolled over 1.54 million people in Medicaid/CHIP itself, an impressive accomplishment.