Now that I've brought everyone up to speed about my disappearing act, it's time to delve back into the ACA & healthcare developments of the past few weeks. There've been quite a few to talk about, but for now I'll just focus on updating the OE6 enrollment books a bit...starting with one of the two states which, until now, hasn't provided any 2019 enrollment data: Idaho.
As I noted a few weeks ago, this is the first time I've gone without posting any updates to the site for more than a few days since I launched this project over five years ago. Obviously a tremendous amount has happened since I went off the grid--some good, some bad--and there's no way I can catch up with all of it, but I'll try and recap a few of the developments most relevant to the ACASignups.net readership in my next post.
Before that, though, I'm sure all of you (well, some of you...ok, perhaps one or two of you?) are wondering where I was, so lemme start with that.
Unlike Islam and Mecca, there's no specific commandment under Jewish law which states that every Jew must visit Israel at least once in their lifetimes. Most Jews, however, do want to visit Israel at least once, and it's something which has been on my Bucket List since I was a kid. The day my wife and I found out she was pregnant, we decided right then and there that we were going to take our son on a family trip to Israel for his Bar Mitzvah.
SNAP recipients and parents of children with Medicaid coverage can use three-question application until January 4
The new coverage is available to men and women ages 19 through 64 who are not eligible for Medicare and who meet income requirements, which vary by family size. For example, a single adult with an annual income at or below $16,754 may be eligible for coverage. An adult in a three-person family with a total household annual income at or below $28,677 may be eligible.
SNAP recipients and parents whose children are currently receiving Medicaid coverage have the opportunity to use a short-form application to sign up if they do so by January 4, 2019. These individuals were notified by letter earlier this fall, and a follow-up postcard was recently mailed to potentially eligible adults in these categories.
In the five-plus years that I've been running this website, I've never gone for more than a few days without an update.
However, starting Saturday the 22nd, I'll be mostly offline for two weeks. I might post a tweet or two if there's a really important development (gee, what are the odds of that?), but don't expect any blog updates from then through the first week of January.
Happy holidays, season's greetings, and I'll see everyone on the flip side!
OK, with the big Week 7 HC.gov Report having been released, I can now fill in most of the blanks for the 2019 Open Enrollment Period: A grand total of 11.16 million QHP selections nationally so far. That includes 8.45 million on the federal exchange, plus another 2.7 million on the 12 state-based exchanges. If the counting were to stop right here, the total would be almost exactly 5% lower than last year, which would actually be pretty good all things considered.
That figures...after waiting for this report to be released for like 3 hours earlier today, it just figures that it would be released right after I had to go pick my kid up from school...updating post as quickly as possible...refresh for updates...
NOTE: Last year CMS modified the official QHP selection total downwards by around 79,000 enrollees the week after the Week 7 report was released for various reason, mostly due to people making last-minute cancellations to their renewals or having their enrollment applications denied due to problems with legal residency verification or other data matching problems.
Limited Time Special Enrollment Period for 2019 Coverage
Posted on: December 17, 2018
Did you hit a snag trying to enroll in 2019 coverage during open enrollment? The Health Benefit Exchange is offering a special enrollment for individuals who were not able to enroll before the end of Open Enrollment.
You still have the chance to enroll in 2019 coverage
In light of this year’s shortened open enrollment period along with other barriers, you still have the chance to enroll in 2019 coverage. If you were unable to select a plan before the close of open enrollment and you would like to enroll in a 2019 plan, contact Customer Support (1-855-923-4633) no later than December 20, 2018! Once you have contacted Customer Support, you will have until December 28, 2018 to select a plan. Plans will still be effective on January 1, 2019.
Earlier today, no fewer than six of the state-based exchanges released their latest numbers: Official 2019 Open Enrollment totals through December 15th. In two cases (Maryland and Washington State), this also counts as their final tally, although the final number may increase slightly more as a few hundred "in line by midnight" enrollees are tacked on.
The other four states (Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts and New York) gave what amounts to a "mid-season report", since all four still have anywhere from four to six weeks left for people to #GetCovered.
Missing from today's updates were final (or any) numbers for Idaho or Vermont, both of which also closed up shop on Saturday (Vermont is still letting a handful of people who had problems enrolling sign up for another few days, but this will likely amount to only a few hundred at most given the tiny population of the state). Also missing were more recent updates for California, Connecticut, DC or Rhode Island.
This isn't an official update, but it's all I have for now. Back on November 29th, the Providence Business News reported that HealthSourceRI, Rhode Island's ACA exchange, was reporting 31,000 QHP selections (including auto-renewals).
Saturday, in response to the insane #TexasFoldEm judicial ruling, RI Governor Gina Raimondo was quoted for a response; the article at WPRI.com states that:
More than 32,000 people have signed up so far for coverage beginning January 2019, according to HealthSource RI.
"This does not change anything about coverage people currently access through HealthSource RI, nor does it change our current open enrollment period," Sherman said.
Sherman encourages those who need health insurance to sign up before open enrollment ends. You have until December 31st, although officials recommend you sign up before the 23rd.
Connecticut was originally supposed to end their 2019 Open Enrollment Period on Saturday, December 15th along with most other states. However, on Saturday afternoon, just hours before the midnight deadline, they announced that they were bumping out the final deadline by a full month, through January 15th, to coincide with California and Colorado. This was done mostly in response to the mass confusion and fear which spread rapidly on Friday night and all day Saturday as people heard about the ruling in the #TexasFoldEm lawsuit.
As of Friday, the day of the Texas court ruling and one day before the original enrollment deadline, Access Health was reporting 102,412 enrollees in non-Medicaid health plans offered on the exchange.
