Washington State wraps up OE4 w/225K QHPs (13% increase over 2016)

Yesterday New York was the first state exchange to report their final OE4 enrollment tally; it was a bit mixed, with QHP selections 29,000 (10.7%) lower than last year...but BHPs increasing by a whopping 286,000 (75.3%) year over year, for a net combined gain of over 256,000 people.

Today, the Washington State exchange chimes in, and their numbers are impressive: Over 225,000 QHP selections.

More than 225,000 people used Washington Healthplanfinder to select Qualified Health Plans – a 13% increase over last year’s total.

The ASPE report for OE3 showed WA's official 2016 tally at 200,691, so 225K would actually only be 12.1% higher, but the press release says it's 13%, so either they're basing it on a slightly lower unofficial 2016 tally, or "over 225K" actually means closer to 226,000.

“This is a remarkable increase in a service provided to and needed by people in all parts of the state,” Gov. Jay Inslee said. “The Exchange is doing exactly what it was intended do and helping record numbers of working families who need and deserve health care. While congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. are trying to take health care away from people in our state, I will do all I can to ensure these families do not see their coverage repealed until a viable replacement is in place.”

The Washington Health Benefit Exchange also reported that along with the record-breaking number of individuals and families selecting health plans more than 60,000 added family dental coverage – a new product offering for 2017.

This is impressive, and also important because it clarifies that this is in addition to the 225K QHPs.

Washington's total is also among a handful of states coming in higher than my original projection for this year (220,000).

In terms of the Final Surge, they added 12.1% to their 1/09 total (which was virtually identical to last year's final number...200,612), and tacked on 9,000 in the final 2 days.