Back in early September, I wrote a post which gained quite a bit of attention in which I ran some back-of-the-envelope math to try and answer a question which is cold-hearted and tasteless...but which, nonetheless, many people across the political spectrum have been wondering: What will the real-world impact be on the 2022 midterm elections of the Red/Blue COVID divide?
There's a lot of factors which come into play here, including political messaging, narratives and the like, but let's be perfectly blunt: What people really want to know (whether they admit it or not...some have been cruder in posing the question than others) is whether more GOP or Dem voters are dying of COVID, and how much that will impact the midterms at the ballot box.
The 4 percent weighted average rate change for Covered California for Small Business is the second lowest since 2014.
Covered California’s small-business marketplace continues to expand, with more than 70,250 members to date and double-digit percentage membership growth for the seventh consecutive year.
Covered California for Small Business also announces an expansion of its four-tier offering as employers can now choose to offer employees the option of selecting from all metal tiers effective Oct. 1.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Covered California for Small Business unveiled the health plan choices and rates for small-business employers and their employees for the upcoming 2022 plan year. The statewide weighted average rate change is 4 percent, which represents the second-lowest annual increase in the program’s seven-year history. The rate change is lower than national projected increases for larger employers.
via MNsure (this is actually from a couple of weeks ago, but still):
Shop and Compare Health Coverage for 2022
ST. PAUL, Minn.—With open enrollment starting in less than three weeks, Minnesotans who need private health insurance can explore health and dental plans available for 2022 through MNsure, Minnesota’s health insurance marketplace.
MNsure’s open enrollment period starts November 1 and runs through January 15, 2022, but Minnesotans can use MNsure’s plan comparison tool now to preview insurance plans, compare options, and see what savings they may qualify for.
In every county, Minnesotans will have at least 19 separate health insurance plan options to choose from through MNsure.
Open Enrollment for 2022 health insurance begins November 1
New carriers and expanded tax credits give Idahoans more choices and savings
BOISE, Idaho – Open Enrollment for health insurance is just one week away. Beginning Nov. 1, Idahoans who do not have coverage through their employer and don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, can enroll in 2022 medical and dental coverage through Your Health Idaho, the state’s health insurance exchange.
Your Health Idaho will offer a record number of plans this open enrollment period with the addition of two new insurance carriers. Molina Healthcare of Idaho and EMI Health will offer plans on-exchange for the first time, giving Idahoans more choice than ever before.
“This is an exciting year for Your Health Idaho and our customers,” said Your Health Idaho executive director, Pat Kelly. “Not only do we have two new insurance carriers and a record number of plans, but Idahoans are also seeing more savings than ever before thanks to the enhanced subsidies that are only available through Your Health Idaho.”
Here's the weekly look at the rate of COVID-19 cases & deaths at the county level since the end of June, broken out by partisan lean (i.e, what percent of the vote Donald Trump received in 2020).
The case rate is pretty much the same as it was last week, with new cases running nearly 3x higher per capita in the reddest tenth of the country than the bluest tenth...
I go by FULLY vaccinated residents only (defined as 2 doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine).
I base my percentages on the total population, as opposed to adults only or those over 11 years old.
For most states + DC I use the daily data from the Centers for Disease Control, but there are some where the CDC is either missing county-level data entirely or where the CDC data is less than 90% complete at the county level. Therefore:
For California, I'm using the CDC data for most counties and the state health dept. dashboard data for the 8 small counties which the CDC isn't allowed to post data for.
Not too many changes were made in either market. I get a weighted average increase of 4.6% for individual market plans (MI DIFS puts it at 4.7%), while I get exactly +7.0% for small group plans (MI DIFS puts it at +7.1%).
As I noted in August, the other noteworthy changes are:
Back in August, the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI) announced preliminary 2022 rate filings for the states individual and small group markets. At the time, carriers were requesting a weighted average increase of around 1.3% for indy market ACA plans and 5.4% for small group plans.
Back in August, I analyzed the preliminary rate filings for the 2022 individual & small group markets in Iowa. At the time, I was unable to run a weighted average due to only having the enrollment data for one of the three individual market carriers (and none of the small group market).
At the time, the unweighted average rate change for the individual market came in at +0.7%, while small group plans averaged out at +0.9%. Unfortunately, this isn't terribly useful since it assumes every carrier has the same market share.
More recently, Iowar regulators have approved the rate filings (with almost no changes at all)...and the SERFF database now includes the Unified Rate Review Templates for every carriers, which allows me to fill in the enrollment of each in both markets. This lets me run the weighted average rate changes.
With that data, individual market plans are going up 6.6% for unsubsidized individual market enrollees and 1.2% for small group plans on average:
As I've griped about many times before, it's confusing as hell trying to keep track of a bunch of insurance carriers which have similar names. For instance, in Kansas, they have both Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City...which are apparently considered separate corporations.
Picking on Kansas again, one of the carriers offering ACA exchange plans is called Sunflower State Health Plan...but if you look it up, you'll see that "Sunflower Health" is actually owned by Centene Corporation. Which also owns "Ambetter Health." Oh, and they also own "Celtic Insurance" as well.
In fact, Centene Corporation has no fewer than 28 other subsidiaries. Now, in some cases these may not be health insurance carriers, and in others they may simply be "product branding" instead of actual corporate subsidiaries, but it's still confusing as hell.
