Massachusetts makes the "as long as you started by 3/31" policy official (shocker!)

As usual with Massachusetts, there's a lot of weird numbers flying around in this article (and therefore, no new hard enrollment numbers to add at the moment), but there's some other important stuff right in the lede:

BOSTON -- Massachusetts residents who have had difficulty signing up through the Health Connector for unsubsidized health insurance coverage will be given an extra two weeks to enroll under an extension plan to be presented Thursday, two days after President Barack Obama announced a similar reprieve for frustrated consumers on the national level.

...Residents who have had trouble completing enrollment to due technical problems with the website will be allowed to shop online for unsubsidized plans through April 15, with payment due April 23 for coverage starting on May 1.

OK, first, there's the standard "you get until 4/15 as long as you started by 3/31" bit which is all the rage (seriously, I think Connecticut is the only state not extending enrollment in one way or another at this point, while Rhode Island nor Hawaii are the only other states not to chime in one way or another...which is insane in the case of Hawaii).

However, re. my whole "But how many have PAID???" rant, note that, once again, enrollments from 3/16 - 4/15 (previously 3/31) don't start coverage until May 1st. Just wanted to drive that home again.

Anyway, regarding the "weird flying numbers", here they are:

After starting with a backlog of 72,000 applications in February and receiving an additional 1,000 applications a day, Connector staff, with the help of hundreds of workers brought on board through the consultant Optum, cleared the remaining 21,000 applications over the past week and officials are confident they can now keep up with new requests as they arrive.

The Connector has also been able to successfully enroll an additional 41,000 residents in temporary MassHealth plans, bringing the total number with transitional coverage to 125,000 residents as software experts work to repair the online enrollment site and eligibility determination system so that subscribers can eventually be placed in their permanent Affordable Care Act plans.

OK, so basically the "Massachusetts Limbo Status" figure which was at 217K has increased to 258K, though I'm still not listing this anywhere on the spreadsheet or graph.