Charles Gaba's blog

New Jersey

via the New Jersey Dept. of Banking & Insurance:

NJ Department of Banking and Insurance Announces More Health Insurance Offerings in 2022, Record Levels of Financial Help Available for Another Year at Get Covered New Jersey

  • 9 in 10 enrolling on the marketplace qualify for financial help; majority of consumers receiving assistance can find a plan for $10 a month or less

TRENTON — The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance today announced that consumers shopping for 2022 health coverage this fall at Get Covered New Jersey, the state’s official health insurance marketplace, will continue to benefit from record levels of financial help available from the federal American Rescue Plan and the State of New Jersey. Consumers will also have more choice, with the entry into the market of a new health insurance company, Ambetter from WellCare of New Jersey, increasing the number of carriers offering plans on the marketplace.

Minnesota

via MNSure:

Minnesota Families Will Save an Average of $684 per Year and Access More Heath Plan Choices in 2022

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The Minnesota Department of Commerce and MNsure released information today on 2022 health plan rates and options in advance of the open enrollment period, which begins November 1.

On average, Minnesota families will save $684 per year and will be able to access more health plan choices than previous years. More Minnesotans than ever before are eligible to receive tax credits to lower monthly premium costs through federal funding provided in the American Rescue Plan. Minnesotans who buy their own individual health insurance for 2022 will have access to hundreds of dollars in savings when choosing health plans via MNsure. Minnesotans will also be able to choose from more health plan options being offered through MNsure.

District of Columbia

via DC Health Link:

District Announces 2022 Health Insurance Rates

(Washington, DC) - Today, the District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB) announced the 2022 approved individual and small business health insurance rates. As a result of the Department’s review, most insurers decreased their initial rate proposals, which will save District residents more than $16 million.

“On behalf of the Bowser Administration, DISB performed a thorough review of 157 small group plans and 27 individual plans to ensure that they meet the District’s standards and provide non-discriminatory, accessible and affordable health insurance for our residents,” said DISB Commissioner Karima M. Woods.

In 1981, there was a fantastic drama starring Paul Newman and Sally Field entitled “Absence of Malice” about journalistic ethics and how people’s lives can be damaged in the wake of the public being given only part of the story, even when everyone involved believes they’re doing the right thing. It’s a great film and I highly recommend it.

A few days ago I posted an entry titled “What’s the deal with the Bloomfield Hills School Board?” in which I laid out pretty much everything I knew about the controversy here in Bloomfield Hills surrounding a list made by one district parent who strongly supports school masking mandates of other parents in the district who they believed opposed such mandates.

COVID-19

A couple of weeks ago, one of my COVID "partisan lean" graphs was cited by David Leonhardt of the New York Times. This paragraph in question gained plenty of attention, and ended up being referenced by Nicole Wallace on Deadline: White House; Morning Joe; Raw Story and Paul Waldman of the Washington Post:

Since Delta began circulating widely in the U.S., Covid has exacted a horrific death toll on red America: In counties where Donald Trump received at least 70 percent of the vote, the virus has killed about 47 out of every 100,000 people since the end of June, according to Charles Gaba, a health care analyst. In counties where Trump won less than 32 percent of the vote, the number is about 10 out of 100,000.

New Hampshire

The good news about New Hampshire's health insurance market is that they're the only state without its own ACA exchange which produces publicly-accessible monthly reports on individual on-exchange market enrollment. The bad news is that they don't seem to publish the actual rate filings in an easy-to-read format, which means I'm left with the federal rate review website. The problem with that is the rate filings are mostly heavily redacted, making it impossible to get the total enrollment data.

As a result, I only have on-exchange enrollment numbers for the individual market and no enrollment data for five of the six small group market carriers in New Hampshire. For the individual market, it looks like the off-exchange market only has around 7,000 enrollees, since nearly 48,000 are on-exchange.

Assuming similar ratios for the off-exchange market, that's a weighted average increase of 3.2%; if not, the unweighted average increase is just under 5.0%.

Nevada

via the Nevada Insurance Dept:

Division of Insurance announces approved health insurance plans and rates for the individual health insurance market

October 1, 2021

  • Division announces approved health insurance plans and rates for the individual health insurance market
  • Nevada Consumers encouraged to view and compare health insurance plans and rates for 2022

Carson City, NV – In preparation for Open Enrollment next month, the Nevada Division of Insurance has made public the approved health insurance rates for consumers who shop on the individual health insurance market, both on and off the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange (Exchange), which is the state agency that oversees and connects eligible Nevada residents to affordable health and dental plans through Nevada Health Link.

Connect for Health Colorado Logo

via Connect for Health Colorado:

Losing Free COBRA Premiums or Job Health Insurance? You Can Still Enroll in Health Coverage for the Last Few Months of 2021

  • Residents with a Qualifying Event Have Options to Get Covered

DENVER – Thousands of Coloradans will lose free COBRA premiums at the end of the month and may need other affordable coverage options. Through the American Rescue Plan Act, which passed earlier this year, many people were able to receive free COBRA premiums through September 30. Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s health insurance marketplace, is reminding residents that they can still sign up for a health insurance plan for the remainder of the year if they experience a Qualifying Life Event, such as losing free COBRA premiums this month or losing job health insurance.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Methodology reminders, including some important updates:

  • 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.
  • The 5 major U.S. territories don't vote for President in the general election, preventing me from displaying them in the main graph, but I have them listed down the right side.
COVID-19

I promise this is the last one of these I'll post this week!

The first known U.S. case of COVID-19 has been confirmed to have occurred sometime in December 2019 (the first known U.S. death was on February 6th, 2020).

Assuming the first case was ~December 15th or so, it was roughly 325 days from then until the Presidential Election on November 3rd, 2020, or a little under 11 months.

It's been 327 days from Election Day through September 26, 2021.

In other words, almost exactly as much time has passed in the post-election phase of the COVID pandemic as in the pre-election phase.

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