So far, after a 2-month initial delay, the Musk/Trump Regime has been posting updated Medicare enrollment data roughly once per month. We'll see if that continues.
Whether the data posted since January 20, 2025 is accurate or not, I can't say for certain, but at least they're updating it...and so far, at least, I don't see anything in their November 2024, December 2024 or January 2025 reports which is setting off any obvious red flags.
As of this writing, the same can't be said for the monthly Medicaid/CHIP enrollment reports, which are usually updated the same day as the Medicare reports, but which have remained stuck on October 2024 since before Trump was inaugurated in January.
In any event, according to the latest report, as of January 2025:
On March 30, 2023, a federal district court judge issued a sweeping ruling, enjoining the government from enforcing Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements that health plans cover and waive cost-sharing for high-value preventive services. This decision, which wipes out the guarantee of benefits that Americans have taken for granted for 13 years, now takes immediate effect.
As you can imagine, this has been a monumental task; not only did I have to crunch a lot of data to break out the statewide numbers into House district-level estimates, I also had to convert that data into nearly 480 easy-to-read graphics...and then I doubled my workload by going one step further and adding high-res PDF versions for folks to print out in large format for town halls, rallies and #HandsOff protests nationally.
With the pending dire threat to several of these programs (primarily Medicaid & the ACA) from the House Republican Budget Proposal which recently passed, I'm going a step further and am generating pie charts which visualize just how much of every Congressional District's total population is at risk of losing healthcare coverage.
USE THE DROP-DOWN MENU ABOVE TO FIND YOUR STATE & DISTRICT.
On Monday, Gov. Dan McKee said his team has identified 650,000 people whose personal information was stolen in the recent cyberattack on the state’s IT system for social services.
...Earlier this month, the cyberattack shut down the state’s IT system known as RIBridges, which serves as an eligibility database for a host of social services, such as SNAP and Medicaid, along with subsidized health insurance through HealthSourceRI.
...According to McKee, the state aims to turn the system back on in January. In the meantime, R.I. Human Services Director Kim Merolla-Brito said people will still receive benefits through SNAP, Medicaid and other cash-assistance programs. She said EBT cards should be refilled for January under normal distribution methods.
She added that nobody will be terminated from Medicaid while the system is down.
Every year around this time I start my annual individual & small group market rate filing analysis project. This involves spending months painstakingly tracking every insurance carrier rate filing for the upcoming year to determine just how much average insurance policy premiums on the individual market are projected to change.
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: How many effectuated enrollees they have in ACA-compliant policies this year; the average projected rate change for those policies; and, ideally, a breakout of the rationale behind the changes.
Usually the reasons given are fairly vague things like "increased morbidity" (ie, a sicker risk pool) or the like. Sometimes, however, there's a very specific reason given for some or all of the premium changes. Major examples of this include:
As of today, 650,000 North Carolinians have access to affordable health care thanks to Medicaid expansion! When leaders come together across political differences, we can make people’s lives better.
Now we must come together to defend this bipartisan victory from proposed federal cuts. People’s health and our health care system depend on it.
Governor Josh Stein announced that as of today, 650,000 newly eligible North Carolinians have gained access to affordable health care through Medicaid expansion, including veterans and workers in child care, construction, hospitality, home health care and other industries essential to the state.
I thought I had finally wrapped up my ambitious Congressional district-by-district healthcare program enrollment pie chart project (for all 435 districts...actually 436 w/DC included). I knew I'd still have to update the numbers every few months, but at least the dust had finally settled on the layout and what info I'd include on each graphic.
RE-UPPED 1/31/22: It was announced this morning that John James, who lost not one but two statewide U.S. Senate races back to back in 2018 & 2020, is taking a third swing at elected office in 2022. This time he's setting his sights lower, going for Michigan's new open 10th Congressional district, which is still competitive but which definitely has more of a GOP-tilt to it. In light of that, I decided to dust off this post again.
RE-UPPED 4/9/25: It was announced yesterday that John James, who finally made it into elected office as a U.S. Representative in Michigan's 10th Congressional District (only to essentially abandon his district the moment he got re-elected in 2024) is now running for statewide office again, this time for Governor. In light of that, I decided to dust off this post again (again).
A month ago, incumbent Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan and his Republican challenger John James were both interviewed as part of a Detroit Regional Chamber series on several issues, including healthcare policy and the ACA.
Connecticut Residents Can Now Request Information About Health Insurance Options While Filing Taxes
HARTFORD, Conn. (April 7, 2025) — Access Health CT (AHCT) and the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services (DRS) today announced that Connecticut residents can now check a box on their state income tax return to get information about health coverage options. In 2023, the state passed Public Act 23-204 which provided the authority for this partnership.
AHCT is the official health insurance marketplace for Connecticut and the only place to get financial help to help offset the cost of health coverage. Eligible customers can enroll in Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) or other low- or no-cost health coverage including the Covered CT Program which provides health and dental coverage at no cost to the customer, or HUSKY Health, Connecticut’s Medicaid Program and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
