It's rather ironic that Oregon, which had a disastrous exchange website which it's abandoning in order to join the federal exchange, still continues to post their enrollment data on a regular basis (pretty impressive numbers at that, by the way--another 10,204 added to Medicaid in the past week or so), while the federal exchange, which has been running smoothly for months now, has decided to stop posting their own updates. In any event...
Medical enrollments through Cover Oregon: 297,712
Total private medical insurance enrollments through Cover Oregon 1: 85,782
Oregon Health Plan enrollments through Cover Oregon: 211,930
Dental enrollments
Total private dental insurance enrollments through CoverOregon 1: 17,578
Net enrollments Net private medical: 78,970
Net private dental: 15,476
Don't let the snarky headline fool you; I'm still very much a single-payer guy. However, anyone who still claims that the ACA exchanges are "socialized medicine" doesn't have the slightest clue what they're talking about. In case you needed even more proof that the ACA is very much private-market friendly:
After sitting out the first year, UnitedHealth Group Inc. intends to offer individual policies on the Illinois health insurance exchange next year, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.
The decision by UnitedHealth, the nation's largest and the state's No. 2 insurer, has the potential to shake up the Illinois market, which was dominated in 2014 by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, the state's dominant insurer.
...United's participation also could help lower rates for consumers, a key concern among the law's supporters.
While United would neither confirm nor deny its plans to offer policies in Illinois next year, a spokesman said the Minnesota-based insurer intends to increase its participation over time in exchanges nationwide.
Check out what just showed up in my in box this afternoon:
HHS Blog: Medicaid Enrollment Shows Continued Growth in April
Medicaid Enrollment Shows Continued Growth in April
By Cindy Mann, Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Director of the Centers for Medicaid and CHIP Services
Medicaid enrollment continues to increase all across the country, especially in those states that have expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act.
As of the end of April, 6 million more individuals were enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as compared to the period before the initial open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act started. That includes 1.1 million additional people enrolled in April as compared to March in the 48 states that reported data for both April and March.
Finally, we have Nevada; while their QHP enrollment was pretty lame, their Medicaid expansion has done quite well. They have an estimated 304,000 people eligible for expansion, of which the state has already enrolled about 27%:
There were 467,000 Medicaid enrollees as of the end of April — 50,000 more than anticipated, said Mike Willden, director of the state Department of Health and Human Services. Of those 83,000 people are newly eligible childless adults who did not previously qualify.
Willden projected Nevada's Medicaid numbers will reach 600,000 by the end of the year.
An estimated 220,000 New Mexicans are eligible for expanded Medicaid benefits, and 121,000 of them signed up for the newly available coverage. Many of them found their way to Medicaid by visiting the insurance exchanges online, by talking with guides, or at enrollment events designed to encourage use of the exchange.
Lots of Medicaid expansion updates today; here's Illinois...
Statewide, about 330,000 have enrolled in the expanded Medicaid program through the end of May, blowing away initial state estimates of about 200,000 for all of 2014, Koetting said.
The total eligible for ACA expansion in Illinois is around 801,000, so they've hit around 41% of that already.
OK, looks like expansion Medicaid enrollments are starting to slow down here in Michigan; only about 8,000 more people signed up over the past week. Still, that's 55% of the half a million total Michiganders estimated to be eligible for the expanded program:
Healthy Michigan Plan Enrollment Statistics
Beneficiaries with Healthy Michigan Plan Coverage: 276,662
(Includes beneficiaries enrolled in health plans and beneficiaries not required to enroll in a health plan.)
*Statistics as of June 2, 2014
*Updated every Monday at 3 p.m.
Rand Paul has a habit of being just as much of a weasel as his senior counterpart Mitch McConnell on most issues, but occasionally being "refreshingly" honest. Case in point:
FRANKFORT — Saying he favors a full repeal of "Obamacare" but citing a "technical question," U.S. Sen. Rand Paul on Friday gave cover to U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a week after McConnell said Kynect and the federal law are not connected.
..."There's a lot of questions that are big questions that are beyond just the exchange and the Kynect and things like that," Paul said.
"It's ... how we're going to fund these things."
...When asked a second time if he would want to dismantle Kynect, Paul said: "I would repeal all of Obamacare."
