As I noted in the prior entry, QHP enrollment is running ahead of last year so far in 45 states so far, with it running more than 50% higher in over a dozen of them and more than twice as high in Mississippi.
Another way of looking at this is to compare the confirmed current QHP enrollment in every state as of the most recent data (12/02/23 for HC.gov states; 11/25/23 for SBM states) against the final total QHP enrollment as of the end of the 2023 Open Enrollment Period.
This is obviously isn't a fair comparison since there's still a full 40 days left for people to enroll and because auto-renewals still have to be added to the federal exchange states. However, it's still interesting to take a look.
For the SBM states, I've included their auto-renewals as reported in either the CMS snapshot report or, in a few cases, even more recent combined enrollment data from the SBMs themselves.
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).
Currently, enrollees in plans offered through a Federally-facilitated Exchange or a State-based Exchange using the Federal platform can take action to re-enroll in their current plan, can take action to select a new plan, or can take no action and be re-enrolled in their current plan. Since the program’s inception, these Exchanges have maintained an automatic reenrollment process which generally continues enrollment for current enrollees who do not notify the Exchange of eligibility changes or take action to actively select the same or different plan.
Over the years I've repeatedly pointed out the importance of NOT simply "autorenewing" your policy. Yes, it's convenient (you don't have to do anything!), but you could be hit with a nasty pricing shock even if nothing has changed at your end (that is, even if your household size, income, etc has stayed the same). Even if your current policy is still available, due to the way APTC subsidies are calculated, you could see your financial assistance drop substantially or increase substantially from year to year...and there may be a better deal available even if there wasn't last year. ACTIVELY SHOP AROUND.
Premiums are slated to rise steeply next year for health plans across the board. Yet almost half of voters who have health coverage under Obamacare say they will keep their current plan through 2016, according to a new Morning Consult online poll.
The findings could be a worrying sign for the Obama administration, which is urging people who buy their insurance on state or federal exchanges to shop around for new plans to avoid premium increases. But the results could also be seen as a positive sign for Obamacare, generally. Half of enrollees are satisfied with their current plan and another one-third are comfortable enough with the online exchanges to look for cheaper coverage, as intended.
*(I really, really hope this isn't the final one...)
“More than half of the 4.17 million people who re-enrolled in coverage during Open Enrollment came back and actively selected a plan and more than half of those consumers selected a new plan,” said Andy Slavitt, Principal Deputy Administrator of CMS. “Based on my experience looking at enrollment trends with employer-sponsored coverage and Medicare, it is clear that Marketplace consumers are more active, engaged, and eager to shop for the coverage that's right for them.”
