Washington state seeks federal approval to expand health insurance to previously uninsured
State request will bring health coverage to individuals regardless of immigration status
In an effort to expand health coverage options to all residents, Washington state submitted a groundbreaking Section 1332 Waiver Application to the federal government for approval on Friday, May 13. The waiver, if approved, will allow all Washington residents regardless of immigration status to enroll in health and dental coverage through the state marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder. If approved, the coverage will be available starting in 2024 to the newly eligible Washingtonians.
A few weeks ago I wrote about a bill pending in the District of Columbia Council, of all legislative bodies, which, had it passed, would have seriously undermined ACA protections for thousands of DC residents with employer-based healthcare coverage, as well as potentially setting precedent for similar bills in other states:
ST. PAUL, Minn.—Minnesotans have just one week left to sign up for health insurance through MNsure before the December 15, 2022, deadline for coverage starting January 1, 2023.
MNsure, Minnesota’s health insurance marketplace, is where Minnesotans can select medical and dental coverage and access premium tax credits (discounts) to lower the cost of monthly premiums. Tax credits aren’t available anywhere else, and next year households receiving tax credits are expected to save an average of $560/month.
“Many Minnesota families who have never been eligible for discounts through MNsure now qualify for tax credits in 2023 because of recent changes to federal rules,” said MNsure CEO Nate Clark. “If your family has been relying on health insurance you get through an employed family member, now is the time to check MNsure.org/newoptions and see whether you can access lower-cost health insurance for next year.”
However, as I noted, the actual confirmed 2023 OEP tally is over a million higher than that thanks to the nearly 1.2 million Basic Health Plan (BHP) enrollees in New York and Minnesota, as well as some other more recent oddball enrollment data released by various state-based exchanges. All told, this brought the grand total up to over 6.8 million.
HOWEVER, it turns out the actual confirmed total is much higher than that as well, thanks to another ~2.9 million current exchange enrollees across the 18 state-based exchanges who have already been automatically re-enrolled in their current policies for another year (or, alternately, auto-mapped to a similar healthcare plan in cases where their current policy is being discontinued).
Thousands of Residents Have Used the Marketplace to Enroll in 2023 Health Insurance
DENVER— This Thursday, December 8, is Get Covered Colorado Day. This day of action encourages as many Coloradans as possible to enroll in 2023 health coverage during the annual Open Enrollment Period, which runs through January 15. In the first five weeks of this year’s Open Enrollment, approximately 145,000 residents enrolled in a plan through Colorado’s official health insurance marketplace, Connect for Health Colorado.
Seeing how Connect4HealthCO announced 57.5K enrollees just 6 days ago, it's pretty safe to assume that they didn't have over 87,000 more Coloradans suddenly enroll in less than a week. Presumably the 145K figure includes auto-renewals of the remaining current enrollees who haven't actively signed up for a 2023 policy yet.
Nevadans can enroll in plans on NevadaHealthLink.com through January 15, 2023
(CARSON CITY, Nev.) – The Open Enrollment Period (OEP) through NevadaHealthLink.com is the most convenient time for Nevadans to enroll or make changes to their qualified health and dental plans; this year 17,925 Nevadans have enrolled in plans in the first 30 days of open enrollment. The 2023 Plan Year OEP began on November 1 and runs through January 15, 2023.
There were several major takeaways, including an overall 18% year over year enrollment increase so far, with new enrollments up 28%, active renewals for current enrollees up 17% and so forth.
However, there's another important factor to look at when comparing 2023 ACA enrollment to date vs. the same point in 2022 (actually one day less): Medicaid expansion.
The table below breaks out every state's 2023 enrollment vs. the same point in 2022, including which type of exchange they use as well as their ACA Medicaid Expansion status as of this writing:
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the latest enrollment figures for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). These programs serve as key connectors to care for more millions of Americans.
As of August 2022, 64,942,984 people are enrolled in Medicare. This is an increase of 111,278 since the last report.
34,939,872 are enrolled in Original Medicare.
30,003,112 are enrolled in Medicare Advantage or other health plans. This includes enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans with and without prescription drug coverage.
...As of August 2022, 90,550,412 people are enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. This is an increase of 587,411 since the last report.
