Every year, I spend months painstakingly tracking every insurance carrier rate filing for the following year to determine just how much average insurance policy premiums on the individual market are projected to increase or decrease.
Carriers tendency to jump in and out of the market, repeatedly revise their requests, and the confusing blizzard of actual filing forms sometimes make it next to impossible to find the specific data I need. The actual data I need to compile my estimates are actually fairly simple, however. I really only need three pieces of information for each carrier:
Wyomingites may be skeptical of Obamacare, but many use it for health insurance
(sigh)
Wyoming leaders have repeatedly rejected Medicaid expansion, but a new study shows many residents here rely on another component of the Affordable Care Act: the health insurance marketplace.
Among 10 states with the highest share of farmers, Wyoming uses the federal health insurance marketplace the most, according to a new analysis by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That marketplace is a virtual space for comparing plans and finding insurance that’s often more affordable than elsewhere thanks to federal subsidies.
Last month I noted that North Carolina's ACA Medicaid expansion initiative, which started in December 2023, had officially enrolled more than 400,000 of the estimated 600,000 NC residents eligible for the program.
The data comes from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services quarterly Medicaid Budget & Expenditure System reports. Unfortunately, the MBES reports only ran through June of last year, so it was missing the last half of the year...which is pretty important since that's when the drop in Medicaid coverage due to the ongoing Unwinding process really started to kick in.
Fortunately, CMS recently updated the MBES data to include the third quarter of 2023, bringing Medicaid enrollment *up through September. It's still 8 months out of date but it's better than nothing.
Note: Medicaid expansion enrollment actually peaked in May 2023 at just shy of 24.8 million, but the graph below only includes 6-month increments (January/June).
As of September 2023, MBES put Medicaid expansion enrollment at 23,225,220 nationally.
No further analysis or comment here; I just think this is a pretty cool graphic...and keep in mind that most of the people represented here would have been utterly screwed from early 2020 - early 2023 without the Affordable Care Act being in place when the pandemic hit.
Click the image for a higher-resolution version; the states are listed on the right-hand side, though they might be difficult to make out (also note that Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also have a number of ACA expansion enrollees shown):
As I've written about several times before, starting April 1st, New York State expanded their wildly popular Essential Plan program (NY's name for the ACA's Basic Health Plan program) up the household income scale from 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to 250% FPL:
On March 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Department of Treasury approved New York's Section 1332 State Innovation Waiver application to expand the Essential Plan. Section 1332 State Innovation Waivers allow states to pursue innovative strategies for providing residents with access to high quality, affordable health insurance. The waiver was approved for five years, from 2024 through 2028.
...Key Components of the Waiver
This approved State Innovation waiver expands health insurance and covers health-related social needs, improving health care and advancing health equity. The waiver includes the following key components:
TRENTON — New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Acting Commissioner Justin Zimmerman today announced the department will continue and extend a previously announced Special Enrollment Period (SEP) to make it easier for qualified individuals who are no longer eligible for NJ FamilyCare coverage to enroll with Get Covered New Jersey.
As required by federal law, the Department of Human Services restarted eligibility reviews for NJ FamilyCare on April 1, 2023. Those who no longer qualify for NJ FamilyCare because their income is too high may be eligible to obtain health coverage through Get Covered New Jersey and may be able to get help paying for premiums.
The end date of this SEP will be extended from July 31, 2024, to November 30, 2024, which will help more individuals leaving NJ FamilyCare to find quality, affordable health insurance through the start of the next Open Enrollment Period. Any eligible consumer who attests to losing NJ FamilyCare (Medicaid/CHIP) coverage between that same time period will be eligible for the SEP.
Nursing home minimum staffing standards promote resident care and safety
Medicaid and CHIP to have historic access standards, advance fair compensation for direct care workers
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), today issued three final rules to fulfill President Biden’s commitment to support family caregivers, boost compensation and job quality for care workers, expand and improve care options, and improve the safety and quality of care in federally-funded nursing homes. The actions, announced during Care Workers Recognition Month and the Month of Action on Care, represent a transformational investment to support America’s families and workers.
In response, a couple of weeks later the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a statement about the actions they're taking to resolve the issue.
