COVID-19

via a bulletin from Michgan's State Emergency Operations Center:

Healthcare Coverage Available to Michiganders who Lose Job or Experience a Drop in Income

LANSING, MICH. Michiganders who lose a job, resulting in a loss of their healthcare coverage or a change in income, may have low or no-cost healthcare options available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).  Consumers in these situations are not required to wait for the yearly Open Enrollment Period and should act now.

“Michiganders who lose employer-based health insurance may have options to continue or replace their coverage,” said DIFS Director Anita G. Fox. “If consumers have questions about enrolling, DIFS is available to assist.”

Lately pretty much everything I'm analyzing and writing about is the ongoing horror of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since tracking and analyzing data is what I'm best known for...and since I'm mostly stuck sitting in front of the computer all day whether I like it or not these days anyway...I've started my own daily COVID-19 spreadsheet. I've added a big yellow banner at the top of the site which links to it.

Again, I'm not the one who compiled the data itself--many other teams with far better resources than I have are doing that--but I'm pulling their work together and adding some additional context, such as per capita info by state/territory.

I've written a LOT lately about the dozen state-based ACA exchanges which have implemented COVID-19-specific Special Enrollment Periods for uninsured residents...as well as the two ACA exchanges (Idaho's, which is state-based, and The Big One, HealthCare.Gov, which hosts 38 states) which haven't done so as of yet.

Given how much outrage there's been at the federal government for not opening up HC.gov to a COVID SEP (Idaho has somehow managed to escape notice for making the same decision) by practically every party (even the American Enterprise Institute, which isn't exactly a lefty organization, is calling for one), it's worth taking a look at the states which do have COVID SEPs open to anyone uninsured to see just how many people are actually taking advantage of them.

Lately pretty much everything I'm analyzing and writing about is the ongoing horror of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since tracking and analyzing data is what I'm best known for...and since I'm mostly stuck sitting in front of the computer all day whether I like it or not these days anyway...I've started my own daily COVID-19 spreadsheet. I've added a big yellow banner at the top of the site which links to it.

Again, I'm not the one who compiled the data itself--many other teams with far better resources than I have are doing that--but I'm pulling their work together and adding some additional context, such as per capita info by state/territory.

Lately pretty much everything I'm analyzing and writing about is the ongoing horror of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since tracking and analyzing data is what I'm best known for...and since I'm mostly stuck sitting in front of the computer all day whether I like it or not these days anyway...I've started my own daily COVID-19 spreadsheet. I've added a big yellow banner at the top of the site which links to it.

Again, I'm not the one who compiled the data itself--many other teams with far better resources than I have are doing that--but I'm pulling their work together and adding some additional context, such as per capita info by state/territory.

Lately pretty much everything I'm analyzing and writing about is the ongoing horror of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since tracking and analyzing data is what I'm best known for...and since I'm mostly stuck sitting in front of the computer all day whether I like it or not these days anyway...I've started my own daily COVID-19 spreadsheet. I've added a big yellow banner at the top of the site which links to it.

Again, I'm not the one who compiled the data itself--many other teams with far better resources than I have are doing that--but I'm pulling their work together and adding some additional context, such as per capita info by state/territory.

Over the years, I've estimated that even during the off-season (that is, outside of the official annual ACA Open Enrollment Period window), around 7,000 - 9,000 Americans typically enroll in ACA exchange coverage each and every day via Special Enrollment Periods (SEPs).

SEPs are typically a 60-day enrollment window during which you're eligible to #GetCovered via your state's ACA exchange if you have a Qualifying Life Experience (QLE), such as losing your existing healthcare coverage; getting married or divorced (and thus losing your current coverage); giving birth or adopting a child (to add them to your policy); turning 26 and being dropped from your parents plan; moving outside of your current state or rating area; getting out of prison or the military; becoming ineligible for Medicaid due to your income increasing; and a few other reasons.

One by one, the dozen or so states which had either already implemented work requirement programs for Medicaid expansion enrollees or which were planning on doing so have either "delayed" or dropped those requirements entirely, either by force due to a federal judge ruling against them, or "voluntarily" due to them seeing the writing on the wall and realizing that a federal judge was going to rule against them in the near future.

Every state except one, that is: Utah.

Utah passed ACA Medicaid expansion solidly back in 2018...and they passed a "clean" version, which was supposed to mean anyone earning up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Line would be eligible, and the program wouldn't have any barriers or hurdles like work requirements and so forth.

As I noted a few days ago, lately 95% of what I'm analyzing and writing about is the ongoing horror of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since tracking and analyzing data is what I'm best known for...and since I'm mostly stuck sitting in front of the computer all day whether I like it or not these days anyway...I've started my own daily COVID-19 spreadsheet. I've added a big yellow banner at the top of the site which links to it.

Again, I'm not the one who compiled the data itself--many other teams with far better resources than I have are doing that--but I'm pulling their work together and adding some additional context, such as per capita info by state/territory.

On March 16th, New York's ACA exchange, NY State of Health, announced that they'd be launching a COVID-19 Special Enrollment Period with a deadline of April 15th.

Today, on top of several other state-based exchanges bumping out their COVID SEP deadlines, it appears that NY is doing so as well. This is hardly surprising given that the state has been slammed the hardest of any in the country by the pandemic.

There's no official press release or announcement as of yet, but according to Bloomberg News, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement at a press conference today:

12:02:30 pm - Angelica LaVito Health-Care Reporter  @angelicalavito

New York is extending open enrollment for health insurance through May 15, Cuomo says.

Update: Here's the official press release...there's some other important details included as well:

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