Submitted by Charles Gaba on Thu, 12/18/2014 - 10:04pm
NOTE: I've decided to start posting my "Nightly Update" newsletters here on the site itself, since they sometimes are basically full posts themselves. Case in point...
As I noted this morning, between a serious backlog with my website clients (that's right, this isn't supposed to be my day job) and the fact that just about all of the state exchanges are updated to within the past few days, it was pretty light posting today. There were a few notable developments, however:
MA's deadline for January coverage isn't until Tuesday the 23rd, so they've been holding pretty steady, although the numbers are definitely moving up gradually (note that they did have a mini-spike on Monday as well). Speaking of January enrollment deadlines...
Maryland's Deadline is Tonight at Midnight!
I didn't post anything about this beyond highlighting MD on the home page of the site, but it's worth noting, since I'm assuming they'll have a Big Press Release tomorrow with their total numbers.
For comparison, they reported 61K QHPs (and 41.9K Medicaid additions) as of 12/15. To reach the HHS's "30% over 2014" target, they'll have to hit 88K by February 15th, or 101K to reach my own "50% over 2014" target for Maryland, so they're doing very well so far.
The 51 states (including the District of Columbia) that provided enrollment data for October 2014 reported nearly 68.5 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. This enrollment count is point-in-time (on the last day of the month) and includes all enrollees in the Medicaid and CHIP programs who are receiving a comprehensive benefit package.
428,311 additional people were enrolled in October 2014 as compared to September 2014 in the 51 states that reported comparable September and August data.
(And yes, the "51 states" wording is CMS's, not mine)
Chalk up another 4,433 QHP eligibility determinations for MA yesterday. Assuming 60% of those have selected a plan, the cumulative total for 2015 should be up to around 61,800 people to date.
As of mid-April, Massachusetts had only enrolled a total of 31,695 people. That means that assuming I'm close, the Bay State should double their 2014 QHP enrollment by tomorrow.
In addition, their Medicaid enrollments are closing in quickly on the 100K mark (98,530), and should easily cross it tomorrow as well.
Exhibit A: I'm way behind on several projects from, you know, my day job.
Exhibit B: As you can see from The Spreadsheet, the enrollment data from every one of the state-based exchanges is current within the past week (WA is from 12/10, VT from 12/11, RI from 12/13 and all others are from the 14th, 15th or 16th).
Therefore, aside from the daily dashboard from Massachusetts (or if there's some huge ACA enrollment development), I'm taking the day off.
Hawaii's updates are particularly frustrating because they have a tendency to only give the cumulative plan selections to date, mixing together 2014 & 2015 numbers regardless of whether they've actually enrolled/re-enrolled for 2015 or not. Therefore, it's refreshing to see a (relatively) straightforward update out of the Aloha state:
The Hawaii Health Connector enrolled 3,500 people in its first month of open enrollment, which ended on Monday, the exchange confirmed Tuesday.
The state's online health insurance exchange saw more than an eleven-fold increase in enrollment in comparison to its first month of enrollment last year, when the just 300 signed up for health insurance on the Connector.
Of course, they couldn't help but mix numbers together later in the story:
...To date, roughly 13,500 residents have signed up for health insurance coverage that will begin on Jan 1.
Kissel noted that the Connector has also connected 50,000 to the expanded Medicaid program, which came in with the Affordable Care Act at no cost to the state.
OK, that's more like it...about 500 people in DC are being contacted by exchange personnel regarding technical issues, but over 2,600 made it through under the wire:
D.C. Health Exchange Director Mila Kofman said as many as 500 applications were left in limbo at 9 p.m. Monday, the cutoff for selecting coverage that would take effect on Jan. 1.
Kofman said 2,631 people enrolled successfully.
Employees at the exchange, known as D.C. Health Link, will spend the next several days contacting each applicant by phone or e-mail to walk them through a follow-up process to ensure unfinished applications are processed and those residents can begin receiving coverage beginning next month as planned, Kofman said.
DC had around 10,000 enrollees to start with; presumably the 2,631 figure is a mix of renewals and new additions.
A nice, no-BS, pretty comprehensive enrollment update out of Colorado:
DENVER, CO – In the first month of Open Enrollment, 136,315 Coloradans enrolled in healthcare coverage for 2015, either in Medicaid, Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) or in commercial health insurance purchased through the state health insurance Marketplace, according to new data released today by Connect for Health Colorado® and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.
“These initial sign-ups during this first month were consistent with our projections and culminated with a single-day record of 12,600 enrollments on December 15th,” said Connect for Health Colorado Interim CEO Gary Drews. “It’s also important to remember that it’s not too late for people to purchase health insurance for 2015. Open enrollment continues until February 15th.”
Dec. 15 was the deadline for individuals and families to select plans for coverage to begin on Jan. 1. Connect for Health Colorado will continue working with those who started their application by Dec. 15 to help finish it so they can be covered by the New Year. Customers also have to take the last step to ensure their coverage: make the first payment on time.
Just over a month into open enrollment at HealthSource RI, nearly half of the people who purchased health insurance in 2014 have renewed coverage for another year, the state-based exchange created under the Affordable Care Act announced Wednesday.
Through Dec. 13, 9,825 people, or 48 percent had renewed coverage, with close to 60 percent opting to switch to different plans.
Another 2,522 have signed up for health insurance for the first time, bringing total enrollment to 12,347.
The numbers in RI are small, but there's some important data points here:
Massachusetts continues to chug along, with another 4.243 QHP eligibility determinations; assuming a minimum 60% plan selection rate, that should add another 2,500 or so to the total, for around 59K QHPs to date.
Meanwhile, Medicaid (MassHealth) enrollments have broken 94,000:
OK, strictly speaking this isn't directly ACA-related, but come on...
Shumlin: "The time is not right"
Vermont has long had a two-pronged approach to building a single-payer health care system. First, they would figure out what they would want the system to look like. Then, they would figure out how to pay for it.
The state passed legislation outlining how the single-payer system would work in 2011. And ever since, the state has been trying to figure out how to pay for a system that covers everybody. Most estimates suggest that the single payer system would cost $2 billion each year. For a state that only collects $2.7 billion in revenue, that is a large sum of money.
What Shumlin appears to be saying today is that the "time is not right" to move forward on the financing of the single-payer system. And that means putting the whole effort aside, with no clear moment when the debate would be reopened.
Ouch.
Thanks to Morgan True for the link to this PowerPoint report which explains why VT is pulling the plug on their ambitious Single Payer attempt:
