It's a long press release, but here's the latest update out of Rhode Island (which has a FULL extension/overtime policy through 2/23).

The grand total: 30,744 QHPs, of which 27,487 have paid their first premium (89.4%). The payment rate has gone down because a huge number of those 30,744 just enrolled in the past week or so, and thus their payments aren't due for another week yet.

SHOP enrollments now stand at 3,349.

HEALTHSOURCE RI RELEASES ENROLLMENT, DEMOGRAPHIC AND VOLUME DATA THROUGH FEBRUARY 15, 2015

Posted on February 18, 2015 | By HealthSource RI

PROVIDENCE – HealthSource RI (HSRI) has released enrollment data, certain demographic data and certain volume metrics through Sunday, February 15, 2015, the last day of Open Enrollment.

Busy day! New York has issued their enrollment update:

Press Release: NY State of Health Ends Second Open Enrollment with More Than 2.1 Million Enrollees

Feb 18, 2015

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 18, 2015)—New York State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, today announced that more than 2.1 million people signed up for health insurance by the end of the second open enrollment period, which began on November 15, 2014 and ended on February 15, 2015. Eighty-eight percent of Marketplace enrollees reported that they were uninsured at the time they enrolled. New Yorkers who have enrolled in coverage through the Marketplace have overwhelmingly reported that they are satisfied with their health insurance (92 percent) and are using their coverage to access care (84 percent).

OK, this is just silly. Last night the official announcement stated that 11.4 million people "signed up for" private healthcare policies via the ACA exchanges, right?

You, me and everyone (including critics) assumed that this meant 11.4 million had either renewed their 2014 policyswitched their 2014 policy or newly selected a 2015 policy, right??

Well, check this out:

Of the 11.4 million, 8.6 million consumers selected a plan or were automatically re-enrolled in the 37 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform. In addition, preliminary analyses of data provided by State-Based Marketplaces show that about 2.8 million consumers selected plans or were automatically re-enrolled between November 15 and February 15 in those states. Further details about plan selections from State-Based Marketplaces may be announced by the states and will be included within the upcoming monthly enrollment report. 

8.6 + 2.8 = 11.4 million, right?

California originally announced that they'd allow 5 extra days for people who were Waiting In Line as of midnight on 2/15 to complete their enrollment (through 2/20).

They just updated this to tack on 2 extra days, matching Healthcare.Gov (February 22nd):

You Have Until Feb. 22 to Get Across the Finish Line for Health Coverage

Open enrollment for private health coverage through Covered California in 2015 is now over, but Medi-Cal enrollment is year-round (read more below). If you started the process of enrolling in a Covered California plan by Feb. 15 but did not complete your application, you may complete it by Feb. 22 with the assistance of a certified enroller, and you need to pay your first premium payment on that same day in order for your coverage to take effect March 1, 2015.

Many people have asked me why I kept using 10.4 million QHP selections as the HHS Dept's official 2015 projection instead of the 9.1 million enrollments which most media outlets have been touting.

In the same press conference/press release where the "9.1 million" figure came out, the HHS Dept. elaborated with a range of 9.0 - 9.9 million paid/effectuated enrollees...but also stated, during a follow-up Q&A, that they were expecting 10.3 - 11.2 million QHP selections. In order to narrow this down to a single number to measure against last spring's 8.0 million selections, it's a simple matter of dividing the low and high end of this range:

  • Low-end range: 9.0 million  / 10.3 million = 87%
  • High-end range: 9.9 million / 11.2 million = 88%

What have I been saying all along? That around 88% of QHP selections end up paying at least the first month's premium. It seems that the HHS Dept. agrees with me on this point.

IMPORTANT UPDATE 2/18/15: HOLD THE PHONE...ACTUAL SELECTIONS 200K HIGHER AFTER ALL.

White House says 11.4 million signed up for insurance

About 11.4 million Americans are now signed up for private health coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the White House said Tuesday.

"We just got great news today," President Barack Obama said in a video posted on the White House's Facebook page.

"In the final day we had more consumers sign up than we have ever had," said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

Crud. As I've been saying for the past few days, I changed my projections from 12.5M as of 2/15 to 11.85M as of 2/15, but 12.4M-12.5M as of 2/28.

The server is being hit hard today (I'm being linked to by MSN, Washington Post, USA Today and Time, among others). This, combined with some other issues is causing serious server load issues.

Working on it, hope to see a load reduction soon.

OK, it's very important to note that the ratio of QHP selections to QHP determinations, which was consistently hovering between 45-50% throughout the entire Open Enrollment Period, likely shot up significantly over the final weekend. On the other hand, MA has bumped their deadline out by 8 extra days on account of the massive snowstorms, so perhaps not.

With that in mind, assuming at least a 50% ratio since Friday's official numbers (9,109 additional QHP determinations), that would mean a minimum of 4,600 additional selections, for a grand total of at least 130K to date.

In theory, it could be as high as 233,000 if every single person who has been determined eligible to enroll in a QHP has gone back and finished the process. Somehow I doubt it's that high, but that at least gives an idea of the potential ceiling here (and don't forget, there's still another full week for MA residents to start the process).

Meanwhile, Medicaid (MassHealth) has broken the 250K milestone.

This Just In...

Overall 1.4 million in @CoveredCA now, over 3 million newly enrolled in Medi-Cal. Big impacts on health coverage from the #ACA. #Obamacare

— Health Access CA (@healthaccess) February 17, 2015

At #ITUPconference, #CoveredCA director Peter Lee notes that 2nd open enrollment closed 29 hours ago: newly enrolled 474,000! 36K on Sunday.

— Health Access CA (@healthaccess) February 17, 2015

Holy Smokes.

264,000 Marylanders enrolled through Maryland Health Connection for 2015
Qualified Health Plan enrollments top 119,000
Enrollments “in the pipeline” can be completed by Feb. 28

Overview:
264,245 Marylanders enrolled through Maryland Health Connection from Nov. 15, 2014 to Feb. 15, 2015. That includes 119,096 people enrolled in private Qualified Health Plans (QHP) and 145,149 enrolled in Medicaid.

Due to high demand during the final weekend of open enrollment, Maryland Health Benefit Exchange is allowing people who started an application at MarylandHealthConnection.gov or contacted the call center by Feb. 15 to complete the process by Feb. 28. Figures for open enrollment will be revised after Feb . 28 to account for those completed enrollments.

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