The prior MA update was extremely confusing; this one is more straightforward but is still pretty fuzzy. As far as I can tell, Massachusetts increased their private enrollments by 24% from Dec. 30 to Jan. 7...but that only brings them up from 3,759 to 4,676. There's another 22,000 or so enrollments in semi-limbo which appear to be approved but not fully processed due to the technical problems they continue to have.
The Republican/MassLive.com previously reported that as of Dec. 30, only 497 people were enrolled in permanent subsidized health insurance plans. The state was providing temporary insurance for another 22,000 new enrollees while it worked to process their applications. The state had extended coverage for existing customers of its Commonwealth Care plans through March 31.
Lefferts said that as of Jan. 7, 4,676 people enrolled in both subsidized and unsubsidized plans through the Health Connector, up from 3,759 as of Dec. 30. He did not have a breakdown of how many of those were subsidized. Individuals whose plans are not subsidized have until Friday to pay their premiums, so that number is likely to tick up.
Pretty slim pickings here on the private enrollment front (up just 141 assuming "slightly more than 26K" = 26,001), but the Medicaid number is up 9.6% to 45,981.
Despite MNsure's problems, so far 71,982 people have signed up for insurance coverage through the exchange. According to newly released demographic details, 53 percent are women and the median age is 48. The largest number signed up for mid-level "silver" plans — about 35 percent of total enrollees. Of those nearly 72,000 enrollees, slightly more than 26,000 signed up for private insurance while the rest are on public plans.
Some interesting numbers out of Washington State. While private enrollments are only up 6% over 12/23 (143,383 vs. 135,078; the % paid as of 01/02 has increased from 48% to 52%), the Medicaid numbers are quite different, due to changes in how they're being reported.
Previously, "Newly Eligible" and "Previously Eligible" were lumped in together with "Redeterminations" (ie, people who were already on Medicaid prior to ACA expansion and are simply renewing their accounts). However, WA is the only state (so far) to list "redeterminations" separately, so I've left those out this week. With all the concern and confusion about how many ACA enrollees are "new" to having healthcare coverage, this seems like a wise move. Of course, this also means that the Medicaid total is actually somewhat lower than I had it previously, even with the additional new enrollees since 12/23.
As a result, the total Medicaid number for WA is now 177,065 vs. the previous 194,398, a "drop" of 17,333. The new number is lower, but more accurate reflection of the actual impact of the ACA on Medicaid...in 1 state. Hopefully other states (and the HHS) will start separating out "redeterminations" going forward as well, if possible.
The problems with the Obama Administration’s rollout of HealthCare.gov are reminiscent of the troubled rollout of the Medicare Part D expansion under President George W. Bush. In a candid interview with Kaiser Health News, former Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt offers telling details of their technical problems – and the Bush Administration’s solution.
…people were walking up to the pharmacy counter to get their drugs and their name wasn’t in the computer. Ultimately, we had to say, ‘give them their drugs, and we’ll work it out later.’ Then we spent 15 or 18 months working it out later. It was an expensive proposition and less than ideal. But it allowed the limited number of people who were having problems with the system to have their human needs met.”
By contrast, the Obama Administration has spent just over three months working out glitches of HealthCare.gov, which was launched on October 1st, 2013. Perhaps after 15–18 months have passed, we can do a more complete comparison with President George W. Bush’s rollout of Medicare Part D?
We have our 3rd Oregon update this week today; they're now up to 20,000 private enrollments as of Monday, plus another 35,000 Medicaid expansion additions. Add this to the 114,500 automatic enrollments via the Oregon Health Authority, and that brings their total Medicaid tally to 149,500.
In total, about 170,000 people have new health insurance beginning this month under new funding and rules of the Affordable Care Act. A majority of them are Oregon Health Plan enrollees, a program for low-income residents...
Monday was the last day for Oregonians to finalize their commercial plan selections on Cover Oregon. Of the 55,000, about 20,000 new enrollees purchased private plans. About 35,000 enrolled in Oregon Health Plan through Cover Oregon, and the majority of the new OHP enrollees signed up directly through Oregon Health Authority.
The Nevada ACA exchange, which apparently only uses Twitter for press releases, just announced that private enrollments have gone up from 12,745 as of 12/23 to 17,673 as of January 4th, a 38% increase.
They're also one of only 3 states to specify paid vs. unpaid status so far; they've gone from 49% paid as of 12/23 to 60% paid (10,647) as of 1/4.
Update as of 1/4: 915,977 unique individuals visited Nevada Health Link. 17,673 consumers confirmed QHP selections, 10,547 have paid.
The final December tally for Rhode Island is in, and also gives a clearer picture of the "But how many have PAID???" talking point. As of New Year's Eve, 11,305 people had enrolled in a plan, of which 2,300 still hadn't paid as of 2 days ago. That means that at least 80% of RI private exchange enrollees are paid in full. No new Medicaid numbers in the article.
Depending on your POV, this also means that Rhode Island has also now hit either 94% (if you're counting unpaid enrollments) or 75% (if you're not) of their 12,000 CBO projection for 3/31/14. See this story for additional discussion.
Monday night, HealthSource RI, the Obamacare marketplace in Rhode Island, sent emails to 2,300 people who had not paid as of Jan. 5 to tell them they had until 4 p.m. on Jan. 8 to pay the first month's premium, and their plans will still be effective retroactive to Jan. 1.
HealthSource RI reported Monday that 11,305 people selected plans as of the Dec. 31 deadline, but not all had paid.
Yesterday, Theda Skocpol of Harvard University cited the data at this site in a brief about state progress in implenting the Affordable Care Act posted at the Scholars Strategy Network website. This brief--particularly the accompanying visual graph--was in turn cited in articles posted at both Talking Points Memo and Mother Jones. The gist of both the brief as well as these articles is that the states which have been cooperating with the ACA have been far more successful in enrolling people in both private insurance plans as well as publicly-funded plans such as Medicaid, SCHIP and related state-run programs.
It is well known, and highly embarrassing, that Oregon has yet to enroll a single person in a new insurance plan online. Since the 1st of October, Cover Oregon has had to do it all by hand, based on paper applications.
That, of course stands in stark contrast to today’s situation. In the course of three months, Cover Oregon has managed to enroll just 18,000 people in private insurance plans – and towering piles of applications are still awaiting the attention of their stressed case workers.
Connecticut, the first state to exceed their March 31 enrollment deadline back on December 23rd, continues to keep their momentum up, adding at least another 12,000 people to their rolls since the 12/23 deadline for January coverage. The article doesn't distinguish between private plans and Medicaid expansion, so I've broken it out roughtly 55/45 for now to match their previous numbers.
This brings CT up to nearly 41,000 private enrollments and over 33,000 added to Medicaid/CHIP.
Many state residents are aware that enrollment is still open, as Counihan said enrollment through Access Health CT has remained strong over the past week or so.
"We're still doing a thousand a day," Counihan said. "I would have thought that, after Dec. 23, things would have really dipped."
