Last chance to shop and enroll in a 2022 health plan
(BALTIMORE) — Marylanders have less than two weeks left to enroll in health coverage that begins March 1, 2022. This year, open enrollment through Maryland Health Connection was extended due to the public health emergency. Maryland residents can enroll in a private health insurance plan until Feb 28, 2022.
“More than 180,000 people have signed up for a health plan since open enrollment began in November. Maryland Health Connection has seen 9% growth over 2021,” said Michele Eberle, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange. “This is the last chance for Marylanders to get health insurance this year, and there are more savings for young adults and those with higher incomes than ever.”
This enrollment period is for private health plans only. Those who qualify for Medicaid may enroll any time of year.
Simple Sign-up health insurance enrollment is as easy as checking a box on the state tax form
New program will simplify sign up for coverage through the Health Connector
February 7, 2022 – Uninsured Massachusetts residents can check a box on their state tax forms to quickly start the process of getting health insurance through the Massachusetts Health Connector’s new Simple Sign-up program. The program will increase access to health insurance, and provide assistance signing up for coverage to thousands of residents.
Through the Simple Sign-up program, when checking the box on the tax form, individuals authorize the Department of Revenue to communicate select elements of the tax filer’s information with the Health Connector. The Health Connector will use this information to create and send tailored information to the tax filer, and to work with residents towards obtaining the most appropriate health plan.
EASY ENROLLMENT PROGRAM OFFERS HEALTH COVERAGE, FINANCIAL HELP TO MARYLANDERS WHO CHECK BOX ON TAXES
AFTER OPEN ENROLLMENT, STATE TAX FILERS WILL HAVE ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITY TO ENROLL THROUGH JULY 15
BALTIMORE, MD – For the third year, the Easy Enrollment Program, a partnership between the Office of the Comptroller of Maryland and Maryland Health Connection, will allow uninsured Marylanders to enroll in health insurance through July 15. The date coincides with the extended state income tax filing and payment deadline.
This innovative program allows Marylanders to check a box on their state tax return to share information with Maryland Health Connection. Within a week, the tax filer can expect a letter in the mail. This unlocks a 35-day enrollment window, starting from the date on the letter.
DISCLAIMER: HealthSherpa is one of the Enhanced Direct Enrollment (EDE) ACA brokers which run banner ads on my site. EDEs are basically authorized private, 3rd-party versions of ACA exchange sites which have their back ends integrated directly into the federal exchange (HealthCare.Gov) (W3LL and Stride Health are the other EDEs which advertise here).
Having said that, I believe Sherpa is the largest ACA EDE out there, and they're pretty transparent about their enrollment metrics, so until CMS posts their latest official Weekly Snapshot Enrollment Report (which should happen soon), Sherpa's updates are pretty good indicators of how things are going overall.
It's important to remember to that Sherpa is currently only equipped to enroll people in the 33 federal exchange states (i.e., those utilizing HealthCare.Gov).
I've received a copy of Access Health CT's monthly board meeting slideshow, which includes the final 2022 Open Enrollment Period metrics and other demographic data. Here's some of the key points:
OE Enrollment/Eligibility Activity:
Started OE 9 with 107,058 enrollees (Up 8%)
112,634 enrolled into a qualified health plan (Up 7%)
47.5% eligible for APTC (Up 20%), 36.2% eligible for APTC/CSR (Down 6%).
Enrollees ineligible for financial help down 43%
24,773 determined eligible and completed application for Medicaid (Down 27%)
112,634 is the topline number. Last year's final OEP enrollment tally for Connecticut was 104,946 QHP selections, which means they actually ended up 7.3% year over year. FWIW, I think CT's all-time OEP enrollment record was 116,000 back in 2016.
This just in via the Massachusetts Health Connector (by email):
253,253 January effectuations
6,247 February and March effectuations
4,643 plan selections
264,143 total enrollments/plan selections
The above includes 22,729 new enrollments, which includes people who never had Health Connector coverage in the past, or who did, dropped exchange at some point, and have come back for 2022.
This is up around 2,000 since December 25th, but is still down over 10% from last year, making Massachusetts one of only 5 state exchanges to see QHP enrollment drop year over year (to be fair, there's still a few days left for MA as well as Kentucky, DC and New York. The fifth is Hawaii. Having said that, enrollments in the other four states only runs through anywhere from December 15th - December 25th, whereas MA's total is current through yesterday.
Expanded Cost Savings Fuel Record Health Insurance Sign-Ups Through MNsure
Over 134,000 Minnesotans found coverage through Minnesota’s health insurance marketplace during open enrollment period
ST. PAUL, Minn.—A record number of Minnesotans signed up for private health insurance plans during MNsure’s recent open enrollment period. 134,257 Minnesotans signed up for 2022 health insurance coverage through the state’s health insurance marketplace between November 1, 2021, and January 15, 2022. The record number of sign-ups is 14,988 more than in the previous year’s open enrollment period and represents a 10% increase.
I'd proceed with caution about this figure, however. The official CMS Open Enrollment Periord report seems to always come in a few thousand lower than MNsure's official QHP tallies. Last year, for instance, the CMS report put Minnesota at 112,804, around 6,400 fewer than MNsure's 119,269 total.
GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES EXTENSION OF OPEN ENROLLMENT THROUGH MARYLAND HEALTH CONNECTION AFTER A RECORD SEASON
More than 180,000 have enrolled for 2022, an all-time high and a 9% increase over last year
(JAN 18, 2022) ANNAPOLIS, MD – Gov. Larry Hogan today announced that open enrollment will continue on Maryland Health Connection through February in light of the ongoing public health emergency. A record number of Marylanders - 181,603 - have enrolled in coverage for 2022 through the state’s health insurance marketplace. A surge of new enrollees fueled the 9-percent increase over a year ago.
In fact, this is up 9.4% vs. last year, which itself was the previous all-tiime record for MD, I believe.
IMPORTANT: The official 2022 Open Enrollment Period has now ended in most of the country, but there's 8 states where residents still have time to #GetCovered, with their new healthcare policies going into effect starting either February 1st or March 1st.
The 2022 OEP is by far the best ever for the ACA coverage, with dramatically expanded financial help for millions more people (including many who weren't eligible last year), reinvigorated expert, unbiased assistance, more choices in many states and counties, and FREE policies for more people than ever before.
If you've never enrolled in an ACA healthcare policy before, or if you looked into it years ago but weren't impressed, please give it another shot now. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan (ARP), it's a whole different ballgame.
Here's some important things to know when you #GetCovered for 2022:
