I keep reading stories like this one at the Washington Examiner lately (about the GOP hand-wringing over the potential backlash if they "win" the King v. Burwell case at the Supreme Court):
GOP scrambles to keep Obamacare subsidies flowing in case of Supreme Court victory
Mazel Tov to HealthSourceRI for being the first of the state-based exchanges to release their full 2015 Open Enrollment Period (with #ACAOvertime included) results. HC.gov released their collective total yesterday, but haven't broken it out by state yet; Kentucky released data through 2/19 but their extension period isn't over until Saturday; and I have a rough estimate for Massachusetts, but they won't release their official tally until tomorrow.
PROVIDENCE – HealthSource RI (HSRI) has released enrollment data, certain demographic data and certain volume metrics through Monday, February 23, 2015, for Open Enrollment and the Special Enrollment Period (due to previous weather closings at the contact center and walk-in locations).
Yesterday, with the final HC.gov "weekly snapshot" report released, I was able to put together almost all of the puzzle pieces for 2015 open enrollment (there's still a few small pieces left...a month of Idaho data, plus the "overtime" data for California, Massachusetts and the other 12 state-run exchanges). My takeaway was that when the dust settles, the grand total of exchange-based QHP selections will be around 11.74 million people.
*(I really, really hope this isn't the final one...)
“More than half of the 4.17 million people who re-enrolled in coverage during Open Enrollment came back and actively selected a plan and more than half of those consumers selected a new plan,” said Andy Slavitt, Principal Deputy Administrator of CMS. “Based on my experience looking at enrollment trends with employer-sponsored coverage and Medicare, it is clear that Marketplace consumers are more active, engaged, and eager to shop for the coverage that's right for them.”
Important: Technically this is not the "final" comparison of 2015 (full year) vs. 2014 (full year), since there's still the upcoming "Tax Season" enrollment period, along with additional enrollments/policy cancellations throughout the rest of the year via qualifying life events (marriage, divorce, giving birth, losing/gaining a job, moving to a new state, etc).
However, in terms of the 6-month-plus-2-week 2014 period and the 3-month-plus-1-week 2015 period, this is as close as I can get to an apples-to-apples comparison.
The HHS Dept. projected roughly a 30% enrollment increase this year (10.4 million QHP selections, 9.1 million actual paid enrollments). I projected roughly a 56% increase (12.5 million selections, 11.0 million paid).
In the end, it split the difference towards the high end: Over 11.7 million selected, of which around 10.3 million either have or are about to pay for at least their first monthly premium. This corresponds to roughly a 46% increase over 2014.
It may sound strange for me to call this the "final" graph...after all, there's still data missing from the "overtime" period from all 14 of the state-based exchanges, including big ones like California and New York. Massachusetts and Rhode Island were even still allowing full open enrollment until Monday night. A few other states are still allowing "wait in line" enrollments through this Saturday.Plus, what about the special Tax Season enrollment period coming up (or even already started in a few states)? Finally, what about Idaho? Their data hasn't been updated since way back on January 17th!
MARYLAND HEALTH CONNECTION ADDING ENROLLMENT PERIOD FOR MARYLANDERS UNAWARE THEY WOULD OWE TAX PENALTY WITHOUT COVERAGE
Special Enrollment Period will run March 15 through April 30
BALTIMORE (Feb. 25, 2015) — Maryland Health Connection is allowing consumers who owe a tax penalty for not having health coverage in 2014 to still enroll for 2015 coverage through a special enrollment period that will run March 15 through April 30.
Consumers who owe or have paid a tax penalty for not having coverage in 2014 would pay a higher penalty for this year if they also did not enroll for 2015. The open enrollment period to buy a Qualified Health Plan for 2015 ended Feb. 15.
The special enrollment period is for Marylanders who must pay the penalty for lacking health insurance in 2014 and who attest that they became aware of the penalty during this income tax filing season after the Feb. 15 close of open enrollment for 2015 coverage.
My brother-in-law Brian is a home builder and architect who specializes in LEED certified construction projects. Yesterday he announced...
Received good word today that an office building that my company, Green Building Services, has been consulting on achieved LEED Silver Certification for New Construction.
This is GBS' second LEED certified project, and it's first commercial project. Another LEED certified home is in the works...
