Get Covered

Back in February, I wrote about Connecticut's new "Covered Connecticut" program:

Access Health CT Announces Special Enrollment Period For Covered Connecticut Program

• Eligible Connecticut residents have until June 30 to enroll

HARTFORD, Conn. (Feb. 15, 2022) — Access Health CT (AHCT) today announced a Special Enrollment Period for the Covered Connecticut Program that provides health insurance at no cost to Connecticut residents who meet eligibility requirements. This Special Enrollment Period runs now through June 30.

Created and funded by the State of Connecticut, the Covered Connecticut Program pays the customer’s portion of the monthly payment (premium) directly to their insurance company. The program also covers the cost-sharing amounts they would typically have to pay with a health insurance plan, such as co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles and maximum out-of-pocket costs.

Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid posted a new press release about a new report from the HHS's Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation (ASPE) which has updated ACA-specific enrollment data current as of October 2021 - March 2022:

New Reports Show Record 35 Million People Enrolled in Coverage Related to the Affordable Care Act, with Historic 21 Million People Enrolled in Medicaid Expansion Coverage

Last June, the U.S. Health & Human Services Dept. confirmed my estimate that total enrollment in healthcare policies either specifically created by (or expanded to more people by) the Affordable Care Act had broken 31 million Americans:

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new report that shows 31 million Americans have health coverage through the Affordable Care Act – a record. The report also shows that there have been reductions in uninsurance rates in every state in the country since the law’s coverage expansions took effect. People served by the health Marketplaces and Medicaid expansion have reached record highs.

HHS's breakout was fairly close to mine, though they had enrollment a bit higher in some categories and a bit lower in others:

And there it is:

Way back in the summer of 2020, then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden rolled out his official healthcare policy proposal. Part of the plan included the following:

Expanding coverage to low-income Americans. Access to affordable health insurance shouldn’t depend on your state’s politics. But today, state politics is getting in the way of coverage for millions of low-income Americans. Governors and state legislatures in 14 states have refused to take up the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility, denying access to Medicaid for an estimated 4.9 million adults.

Biden’s plan will ensure these individuals get covered by offering premium-free access to the public option for those 4.9 million individuals who would be eligible for Medicaid but for their state’s inaction, and making sure their public option covers the full scope of Medicaid benefits. States that have already expanded Medicaid will have the choice of moving the expansion population to the premium-free public option as long as the states continue to pay their current share of the cost of covering those individuals.

via NY State of Health:

Certified Assistors Provide Enrollment Support on SUNY and CUNY Campuses Throughout the State

• March 15 is the Deadline to Enroll for April 1, 2022 Coverage

ALBANY, NY (March 10, 2022) -NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, today announced its partnership with SUNY and CUNY colleges throughout the State to educate students about how to enroll in affordable, quality health coverage. Informational events will take place during March, with certified enrollment assistors onsite to answer questions and provide enrollment assistance. 

via Connect for Health Colorado:

Thousands of Coloradans Are Using Special Enrollment Periods to Sign Up for Health Insurance

• Uninsured Residents Can Enroll in Health Coverage Now

DENVER – The state’s official health insurance marketplace, Connect for Health Colorado, reports that more than 6,000 Coloradans have signed up for a health insurance plan since the annual enrollment period closed mid-January using Special Enrollment Periods; about 1,000 enrollments per week. That brings Colorado’s total marketplace enrollments for the 2022 coverage year to nearly 205,000; a milestone that Connect for Health Colorado didn’t see until July last year.

via Maryland Health Connection:

RECORD-SETTING 182,000+ ENROLL IN COVERAGE THROUGH MARYLAND HEALTH CONNECTION DURING OPEN ENROLLMENT

• Uninsured Marylanders can enroll through the state tax form's Easy Enrollment or, if eligible, through Medicaid

BALTIMORE – Gov. Larry Hogan today announced that a record number of Marylanders enrolled for health coverage for 2022 in the annual open enrollment that just ended through Maryland Health Connection. The 182,861 enrollments marked a new record for the state-based health insurance marketplace, a 10% increase over the 2021 open enrollment total of 166,038.

Maryland was one of four state marketplaces, along with Colorado, New York and the District of Columbia, that extended their original open enrollment deadlines in response to the hospitalization surge driven by the Omicron variant of Covid-19. Maryland’s open enrollment was originally scheduled to run from Nov. 1, 2021 to Jan. 15, 2022, but was extended through February.

Hmmmm...a few weeks ago I posted a press release from Covered California which seemed to indicate that total 2022 Open Enrollment Period (OEP) plan selections had broken 1.8 million people.

Today I was directed to Covered CA's official 2022 OEP Executive Summary report, and it turns out the final numbers were a bit lower than that...but still record-breaking and impressive:

AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN LEADS TO HISTORIC OPEN ENROLLMENT

Last month I noted that a press release from New York State of Health (NY's ACA exchange) was kind of oddly worded:

...several paragraphs later, you get this:

...Extending the Open Enrollment Period for QHP’s aligns with the coverage rules for public programs also administered through NY State of Health. New Yorkers need to enroll by January 15 for coverage starting February 1 and by February 15 for coverage starting March 1.

In other words, they've bumped out the final deadline by another 2 weeks, through 2/15. Why this isn't mentioned until 5 paragraphs in, I have no idea, but whatever.

At the time, I assumed that they had extended their 2022 Open Enrollment Period deadline through February 15th, as I didn't see any other press releases clarifying things.

Well, it turns out they did extend it, but not through any specific date:

via Maryland Health Connection:

• Last chance to shop and enroll in a 2022 health plan

(BALTIMORE) — Marylanders have less than two weeks left to enroll in health coverage that begins March 1, 2022. This year, open enrollment through Maryland Health Connection was extended due to the public health emergency. Maryland residents can enroll in a private health insurance plan until Feb 28, 2022.

“More than 180,000 people have signed up for a health plan since open enrollment began in November. Maryland Health Connection has seen 9% growth over 2021,” said Michele Eberle, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange. “This is the last chance for Marylanders to get health insurance this year, and there are more savings for young adults and those with higher incomes than ever.”

This enrollment period is for private health plans only. Those who qualify for Medicaid may enroll any time of year.