Minnesota: nearly 24K QHPs in 13 days (still 4.5x faster than last year)

A few days ago, I noted that MNsure had enrolled nearly 22,000 people in exchange policies in just 9 days, a rate 6x faster than last year.

Today, another update via Christopher Snowbeck of the StarTribune:

With 23,883 people signing up via MNsure for private coverage as of Nov. 13, the exchange is more than one-fourth of the way to its budget target of 83,000 enrollees at the beginning of next year.

That's 1,837 per day, vs. last year's 404 per day; while things are starting to slow down, they're still enrolling people at a rate 4.5x as fast for the moment. Again, this is mainly due to MNsure's unique first-come, first-serve enrollment cap on most of their carriers.

Some other tidbits:

“We have heard from assisters just anecdotally across the state that consumers are canceling their appointments because there is so much uncertainty out there right now about the Affordable Care Act,” said Allison O’Toole, the MNsure chief executive, during a board meeting Wednesday in St. Paul. “My message to them is: Don’t give up.”

This, you may recall, was my own concern last week, atlhough the numbers nationally so far seem to indicate no slowdown.

About 38 percent of shoppers this year are in the age 55-to-64 bracket, up from about 33 percent last year. The numbers could suggest a lack of young and healthy enrollees in the market, but O’Toole said it’s too early to draw conclusions.

Ugh. That's not good, but as she notes, way too early to be sure of anything, especially given the cut-off; it's possible that older people are just more likely to scramble for their preferred carrier, while younger people are more inclined to take whatever's left at the end.

Thus far during open enrollment, more than 60 percent of those who have signed up for private plans via MNsure are new to the exchange, O’Toole said. That’s a higher share, she said, than at healthcare.gov.

This is a bit unexpected. Remember, earlier today I noted that only 24% of HC.gov enrollees so far are new, so this is good.