December 5, 2021, 10:33am: See important updates at bottom.

NPR, December 5, 2021, 5:00am EST:

Pro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates. Misinformation is to blame

by Daniel Wood, Geoff Brumfiel

Since May 2021, people living in counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump during the last presidential election have been nearly three times as likely to die from COVID-19 as those who live in areas that went for now-President Biden. That's according to a new analysis by NPR that examines how political polarization and misinformation are driving a significant share of the deaths in the pandemic.

Just yesterday I realized that CoverME, Maine's new state-based ACA exchange, had issued their first enrollment report for the first 2 weeks of the 2022 Open Enrollment Period.

It turns out that the same day I posted about it, the Maine HHS Dept. was posting a second report which runs through the first four weeks:

CoverME.gov Open Enrollment Update: November 1-27

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace (OHIM) today released an update on plan selections through CoverME.gov, Maine’s new Health Insurance Marketplace.

OHIM provided the first update on November 18 and will continue updates every two weeks throughout open enrollment, which began on November 1, 2021 and ends on January 15, 2022.

Since the start of open enrollment through November 27 on CoverME.gov:

BeWell NM, New Mexico's just-launched state-based ACA exchange website, has posted their first Open Enrollment report for the 2022 OEP:

In week four of the 2022 Open Enrollment Period, over 37,000 New Mexicans have an active plan selection. This includes 4,698 existing enrollees who chose a new plan or actively chose to keep their current plan, 2,505 new consumers, and 30,509 passive re-enrollees. There were also 8,061 dental plan selections. Consistent with CMS, enrollment weeks are measured Sunday through Saturday.

Passive enrollees were handled earlier for this year to support the transition from Healthcare.gov to New Mexico’s solution. This offers additional time for payment to ensure that New Mexicans who have a plan stay covered. Individuals can still shop, compare, and change their plan.

The headline choice in this Nevada Health Link press release confused me a bit at first when I saw the larger number later on, but I sorted it out:

Nevada Health Link Enrolls 17,452 Nevadans in First Month of Open Enrollment Period

CARSON CITY, NV) – Nearly 17,452 Nevadans have actively enrolled in qualified health insurance plans within the first 30 days of open enrollment through Nevada Health Link. The Open Enrollment Period (OEP) for the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange (Exchange), Nevada’s state agency that helps individuals get connected to affordable health and dental coverage, began on November 1, 2021 and runs through January 15, 2022.

The key phrasing here is "actively enrolled." The 17,452 figure only includes new enrollees or current enrollees who have actively logged into their account and selected a new plan (or renewed their existing one) for 2022. It doesn't include current enrollees who have been auto-renewed.

via NY State of Health:

Certified Enrollment Assistors will be On Site at Libraries Across NYC to Help New Yorkers Enroll in Quality, Affordable Health Coverage

ALBANY, N.Y. (December 02, 2021) – NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, today announced that NY State of Health Certified Enrollment Assistors will be available at NY Public Libraries across New York City to educate New Yorkers about enrolling in quality, affordable health coverage. Certified Enrollment Assistors can provide in person assistance at more than 10 libraries throughout December and January to answer questions, make appointments and help with enrollment. Details are available here.

Whoops! This is a couple of weeks out of date, but I figured I should still post it for completeness:

Maine DHHS Releases First CoverME.gov Open Enrollment Snapshot

AUGUSTA— The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace (OHIM) announced today that 8,278 Mainers have selected plans for affordable health coverage in 2022 through CoverME.gov, Maine’s new Health Insurance Marketplace, during the first two weeks of Open Enrollment from November 1-13. This includes 862 new and 7,416 returning consumers.

At CoverME.gov, Maine people can compare plans, apply for financial assistance, and enroll in a 2022 health plan.

Hot off the presses, via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid:

Week 4, November 21-November 27, 2021

In week four of the 2022 Open Enrollment Period, approximately 569,000 people selected individual market plans through the 33 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform. During the Open Enrollment Period, to date, approximately 3,004,000 people have selected individual market plans on HealthCare.gov. As in past years, enrollment weeks are measured Sunday through Saturday.

The final number of plan selections associated with enrollment activity during a reporting period may change due to plan modifications or cancellations. In addition, the weekly snapshot only reports new plan selections and active plan renewals and does not report the number of consumers who have paid premiums to effectuate their enrollment.

Here's the weekly look at the rate of COVID-19 cases & deaths at the county level since the end of June, broken out by partisan lean (i.e, what percent of the vote Donald Trump received in 2020).

The ratio of case rates has started to drop; new cases are now running 2.71x higher per capita in the reddest tenth of the country than the bluest tenth, down from 3.0x higher five weeks ago:

DISCLAIMER: HealthSherpa is one of the Enhanced Direct Enrollment (EDE) ACA brokers which run banner ads on my site. EDEs are basically authorized private, 3rd-party versions of ACA exchange sites which have their back ends integrated directly into the federal exchange (HealthCare.Gov) (W3LL and Stride Health are the other EDEs which advertises here).

Having said that, I believe Sherpa is the largest ACA EDE out there, and they're pretty transparent about their enrollment metrics, so until CMS posts their official Weekly Snapshot Enrollment Report (which should happen later this week), Sherpa's updates are pretty good indicators of how things are going overall.

In the first three weeks of 2022 Open Enrollment, they reported having enrolled 1,063,745 people in Qualified Health Plans (QHPs across the 33 states hosted via HealthCare.Gov.

via Connect for Health Colorado:

Connect for Health Colorado Sees Steady Growth in Health Insurance Enrollments for 2022 Coverage

DENVER- 50,522 Coloradans have signed up for a health insurance plan through Connect for Health Colorado’s Marketplace between Nov. 1 and Nov. 29, a 14-percentage increase over the same enrollment period last year. Through the first four weeks of the Open Enrollment Period, approximately 75 percent of applicants qualify for savings on their health insurance premiums.

“As the pandemic continues to affect our communities, it’s more important than ever that Coloradans have access to affordable and quality health coverage,” said Chief Executive Officer Kevin Patterson. “Residents who need health coverage, including those who have lost their job health insurance or find themselves in a different financial situation this year, should contact us right away to see the plans and savings available.”