Since open enrollment began on Nov. 15, more than 354,000 people have selected a plan, including 13,000 people on Tuesday — the second-highest single day of enrollment after the rush to meet the deadline on Dec. 15 to have coverage start on Jan. 1. They join the 944,000 consumers who signed up for coverage for 2014 and began the process of renewing their coverage for 2015.
Let's see how California has ramped up the past week or two:
This is the last time I'll be running a full comparison of how all 50 states (+DC) are doing before the final weekend surge; it'll be interesting to run before/after comparisons. Some important caveats, however:
1) While most of the states are current through at least February 2nd, 4 of them (CO, DC, HI & ID) haven't been updated since mid- to late January. Then again, both DC and Hawaii are already well over the top anyway.
2) For Massachusetts, I've dropped my personal target from 300K to 200K. Yes, it's lame to change my "predictions" so close to the finish, but in MA's case I completely botched my methodology in the first place; I thought they had a lot more people in their special "temporary coverage" who were eligible for QHPs than actually were. It would be a bit unfair to rank them at the bottom for failing to meet a completely unrealistic goal.
3) For Rhode Island and Washington, I'm using a different number than the other states; RI is the QHP selections, but after past-due non-paid ones have been purged from the total; in WA, they're only reporting the paid QHPs at all, so I don't know what the total selections are to begin with.
There's two issues here: First, is the demand going to be there? Second, can the system handle the strain if it's there?
According to Andy Slavitt of CMS:
Right now, we're focused on the next few days on being there for our consumers and to help them select the best plans for their families and the final days of open enrollment. As expected over the last couple of days, interest in signing up for coverage in the final week of open enrollment is beginning to increase and we're seeing a really nice ramp.
Amid today's otherwise excellent news out of HC.gov, WA, MA, RI & VT, there was one other unexpected bit of news from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services:
The Marketplace is constantly changing with new consumers coming in each day and others leaving because of career changes, getting married or other life status changes. We have a responsibility to make sure people who are eligible stay covered and that those who are not eligible for Marketplace coverage do not. Up to 200,000 Marketplace consumers who had 2014 coverage cannot continue Marketplace coverage in 2015 because they did not provide the necessary documentation of their citizenship or immigration status. They will be notified in the coming days that their coverage ends on February 28. This is the same process that started last year and will continue on a regular basis.
D'oh! OK, one more late-breaking number today, out of Vermont:
Vermont Health Connect Open Enrollment and Renewal Update
The following numbers are up-to-date as of 11:59pm Monday, February 9, 2015.
New Vermont Health Connect Customers
12,344 individuals have checked out a 2015 health plan. This includes 4,786 individuals in Qualified Health Plans (private health insurance) and 7,558 individuals in Medicaid or Dr. Dynasaur plans.
After a new customer checks out a plan, they must make an initial premium payment and have their selection processed before they have an active health plan. Of the 12,344 individuals who checked out, 10,678 have completed the enrollment process and have an active health plan (i.e., effectuated enrollment). Of those who completed the process, 3,293 are on a Qualified Health Plan and 7,385 are on Medicaid or Dr. Dynasaur.
MA's number starts with the 119K confirmed as of last Thursday, then adds 50% of those determined eligible for QHPs since then (this has proven to be a pretty accurate rule of thumb to date).
RI actually provides the hard paid enrollment number, and even provides the total QHP selections...but only after having purged an estimated 1,800 or so who didn't pay by the due date. I'm glad that they're purging those folks, but it makes it a bit tricky since most other states are being based on their total selections, whether paid or not.
WA, like Rhode Island, provides the paid enrollment number, but doesn't provide total selections at all.
In the cases of RI & WA, I'm assuming that their hard paid number represents 88% of the total selections, which means their estimated QHP selections are 30.7K & 158K respectively.
OK, with that out of the way, here's where things stand (and remember, while most of the states are current through 2/06, a few of the State Exchange states haven't been updated since as far back as January 15th, so the picture could be quite different once those are updated):
As I noted last week, Washington State is doing things a bit backwards from just about every other state...instead of reporting the total number of QHP selections and then, in a few cases, also reporting the number of enrollees who have actually paid their first premium, the WA HealthBenefit Exchange is only reporting enrollments after they've made their first payment.
On the one hand, I wish every state was reporting this number. On the other hand, unlike MA & VT (which report both numbers) or Rhode Island (which is reporting both, but only including the total selections after subtracting those who are past-due on their payments), WA isn't including the total selections at all. This makes things a bit tricky for me, since I'm trying to report both numbers.
As a result, what I'm doing for the moment is assuming the standard 88% payment rate, which means that today's announcement of 139,000 QHP enrollmentsshould mean roughly 158,000 total selections:
HEALTHSOURCE RI RELEASES ENROLLMENT, DEMOGRAPHIC AND VOLUME DATA THROUGH FEBRUARY 7, 2015
Posted on February 11, 2015 | By HealthSource RI
PROVIDENCE – HealthSource RI (HSRI) has released enrollment data, certain demographic data and certain volume metrics through Saturday, February 7, 2015, for Open Enrollment.
RENEWAL UPDATE
As of February 7, 2015, 79% of Year One customers have renewed (selected a plan) for 2015
(77% of renewing customers paid the first month’s premium).
Total New Customers: 8,547 (7,372 paid)
Total Renewed Customers: 20,240 (19,617 paid) Total HealthSource RI enrollments for 2015 coverage: 28,787 (26,989 paid)
*Note: Individuals who have selected a plan but not paid by their selected coverage effective date become cancelled; reported enrollment values (plan selections, paid and unpaid) will fluctuate with potential net decrease due to plan selection cancellation, as of the passage of the January coverage payment deadline.
On Wednesday the 11th, HHS should issue a report including all HC.gov QHP selections as of Friday the 6th. I'm expecting the total to be roughly 7.75 million, or about 276K for the week.
This is possibly the dumbest story to make Major Headlines this week, but apparently GOP Speaker of the House John Boehner uttered the word "ass" in public.
Considering that VP Biden was caught on tape referring to the signing of the Affordable Care Act as a "Big F*cking Deal", I'm not quite sure I understand why Boehner saying "ass" is newsworthy, but what the hell: Here's my own connection to that "story": About 1:20 into this Al Jazeera America segment from March 26th, Boehner says "What the hell is this, a joke??" referring to the 2-week "extension period" tacked onto the end of last spring's Open Enrollment Period.
Oh, yeah...immediately after he rhetorically asks, "What the hell is this, a joke??", the segment turns to...me! (This has been, to date, my only televised appearance):
