RWJF launches new County-Level ACA Market Participation Web Tool!

OK, this is very helpful! via the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:

A year ago, rate filings caused widespread anxiety, as multiple carriers announced withdrawals from the ACA market, and state officials struggled to fill bare counties. Many of those remaining filed enormous rate increases. In 2018, marketplace enrollment was stable, while unsubsidized enrollment continued its multi-year decline. So far, this year’s rate filing season has been sprinkled with news of entry and expansion, and proposed rate hikes that are generally more moderate. With no announced market exits thus far, it seems likely that in 2019 there will be net entry into the ACA marketplace.

...Our public web tool tracks participation for 2019 at the county level. It can be used to monitor changes in the number of carriers by counties, and also provides information at the carrier level. Data can also be downloaded.

The tool can be used to track exits and entries, although so far there have been no exits—a stark contrast to last year. While final contracts are still several months away, evidence suggests that carrier interest in the ACA marketplace is definitely on the rise.

This should be a very handy tool for ACA data wonks like myself. They've only plugged in about a dozen states so far, but it's definitely promising. For instance, I've posted screen shots from my home state of Michigan below. As RWJF notes, the data is preliminary and incomplete, and I assume they'll be tweaking the layout a bit more, but overall this is a godsend to a lot of health wonks.