I know I haven't posted much the past few days; part of this is due to dealing with the snowstorm which hit us here in the midwest (snow day for my kid, broken snowblower, etc.), while part was due to prepping for a healthcare town hall event I participated in last evening.

The town hall was centered on healthcare at the county level. Oakland County, Michigan, has over 1.25 million residents, and after decades of solid Republican control, a combination of last year's "blue wave" election plus the death of longtime GOP County Executive L. Brooks Patterson over the summer has resulted in Democrats taking control of both the executive and legislative branches of county government for the first time in forever.

OK, this is a bit confusing. Over the past few years, more and more of the state-based exchanges have shifted from waiting until the end of Open Enrollment to officially report auto-renewals of existing enrollees...to going ahead and auto-renewing everyone up front, and then subtracting those current enrollees who actively cancel their renewals.

This has caused a bit of confusion, since the exchanges don't always make it clear who's being counted and when.

Case in point: Access Health CT, Connecticut's ACA exchange. Last year they reported 12,777 enrollees during the first two weeks of Open Enrollment...and also noted that there were another 85,000 existing enrollees who hadn't yet actively renewed their policies as of 11/18.

This year, their press release page states the following:

2020 Open Enrollment Results (Stats will be available starting Friday November 8, 2019 by 5pm EST)

Qualified Health Plans (QHP):

Over the past few months, I've written overviews of the preferred Big Healthcare Reform proposals from several of the Democratic Presidential candidates:

Over the past few months, I've written overviews of the preferred Big Healthcare Reform proposals from several of the Democratic Presidential candidates:

Over the past few months, I've written overviews of the preferred Big Healthcare Reform proposals from several of the Democratic Presidential candidates:

A few weeks ago I noted the following press release from Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, just ahead of the critical state legislative elections:

It took me a couple of days to post this, but it's an important development, especially on the cusp of the Virginia legislative election next month which could flip both the state House and Senate to the Democrats; thanks to Esther Ferington for the heads up:

Governor Northam Signs Executive Directive to Ensure Access to Affordable, Quality Health Care Coverage for All Virginians

“Health coverage should be both meaningful and affordable, but unfortunately, policies from Washington threaten to increase the number of families who are uninsured or underinsured,” said Governor Northam. “It’s more important than ever that we identify and implement policies at the state level that control costs and ensure that Virginians can afford to buy health insurance that covers their health care needs.”

Disclosure: HealthSherpa has a banner ad on this site...for the following reasons:

• Their website only sells ACA-compliant plans.
• They display all of them equally (as opposed to hiding or favoring one over another).
• They only sell them on-exchange (if you're eligible for ACA subsidies you get them through HS's site as well)
• They make it easy to enroll fro Medicaid/CHIP if the enrollee isn't eligible for a subsidized ACA policy.

It's really, really important to me to make the above very clear, for the following reasons as laid out by Tara Straw of the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities:

This was posted by NJ Governor Phil Murphy a week ago but it's still noteworthy, especially considering that NJ is in the process of splitting off from HC.gov onto their own full ACA exchange next year as Nevada just did:

Governor Murphy and New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Kick Off ACA Open Enrollment Period

Governor Announces Strengthened ACA Efforts, including $3.1 Million to Support Outreach and Enrollment Efforts and Bolstered Get Covered NJ Awareness Campaign

TRENTON – Governor Phil Murphy, joined by Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) Commissioner Marlene Caride and enrollment assisters from across the state, today announced Navigator grant awards totaling $1.1 million to provide enrollment assistance to residents shopping for health coverage during the six-week open enrollment window. DOBI plans to release approximately $500,000 more in grants in the coming days.

HEALTHCARE TOWN HALL: A PLAN FOR OAKLAND COUNTY

Please join us for a Health Care Forum with Andy Meisner. We will be focusing on the issues and proposed solutions for Oakland County.

November 12th, 6:30pm in Room 218 at West Bloomfield High School, 4925 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield

Panelists include:

This just in via MNsure (Minesota's ACA exchange):

MNsure update on first week of open enrollment

ST. PAUL—MNsure CEO Nate Clark issued the following statement recapping the first full week of open enrollment:

“MNsure has seen strong and steady interest during the first week of open enrollment. Minnesotans have six weeks left to sign up for their 2020 coverage. Remember, MNsure is the only place Minnesotans can get access to tax credits that could lower premium costs. We’ve also got a statewide network of assisters who offer free, in-person help so consumers can be sure they’re finding the health care plan that meets their needs.”

Open enrollment figures will be released next Wednesday (11/13) at MNsure’s public board meeting at 1 p.m.

By the numbers: As of end of day, November 7