Given that they were only at 8,742 just a few days earlier, Hawaii managed to pull off an impressive (relatively-speaking) mini-surge in the final few days:
The Hawaii Health Connector, the online marketplace responsible for implementing President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act in Hawaii, enrolled 9,800 residents as of Wednesday’s final deadline for its first year of providing coverage.
The Connector collected 31,310 individual applications as of Saturday but was unable to enroll two-thirds of those applicants despite a push in the final two months.
Hawaii's original CMS target was a piddly 9,000 exchange QHPs...believe it or not, they may just barely squeak over that line after all (although my own target for HI was 11,000, which they're almost certainly not gonna pull off...)
Total through April 26, 2014:
31,310 Applications completed in the Individual Marketplace 8,742 Individuals and families enrolled in the Individual Marketplace
576 Employers applied to SHOP Marketplace 628 Employees and dependents enrolled via SHOP Marketplace
Not that the raw numbers add up to much, but the 603 total lives covered by SHOP policies is mildly interesting, since it was at only 269 as of 3/31:
30,396 Applications completed in the Individual Marketplace 8,592 Individuals and families enrolled in the Individual Marketplace
568 Employers applied to SHOP Marketplace 603 Employees and dependents enrolled via SHOP Marketplace
Oh for the love of...(sigh) Look, I'm all for letting as many people as possible enroll in healthcare coverage, but even I admit that I'm getting awfully tired of having to change the final, FINAL deadline dates.
The Hawaii Health Connector has extended the initial grace period— which would have ended on Tuesday — given to individuals in need of extra time completing the enrollment application process for health insurance by a couple of weeks to April 30.
Let's just hope they resolve their Heartbleed issue.
Whoops...apparently I was wrong about Hawaii not joining in with most other states on the "finish by 4/15 if you started by 3/31" bandwagon. Thanks to deaconblues for the catch:
Total since October 1, 2013
28,374 Applications completed in the Individual Marketplace 7,788 QHP Enrollments in the Individual Marketplace
557 Employers applied to SHOP Marketplace 269 QHP Enrollments from the SHOP Marketplace
The Hawaii Health Connector has enrolled 7,861 individuals as of the March 31 deadline, with another 24,176 who completed applications for coverage through the state-run online health insurance exchange.
...It is important to note there are only about 50,000 uninsured people in Hawaii who are not deemed Medicaid eligible, which makes Hawaii’s market small compared to other states.
...Kayla Rosenfeld, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, told PBN on Wednesday that since Oct. 1 — when the department launched its new online eligibility system KOLEA— net Medicaid enrollment in Hawaii has increased by 46,605, which is close to the expected increase of 48,000.
OK, this just adds to the confusion over the "extension periods"...not only is Kentucky joining the "you have until 4/15 if you started by 3/31" brigade, but it appears that they're also allowing people to start the application/enrollment process between 4/4 - 4/11 as well:
Gov. Steve Beshear announced Tuesday that the state will extend its deadline. People will be able to file for health insurance from April 4 to April 11.
The official deadline had been midnight March 31. Gwenda Bond, spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said 21,000 people signed up over the weekend, including 12,000 people who signed up Monday. The deadline affected only those signing up for private health insurance, because those eligible for Medicaid can apply at any time.
Because of the high demand, Bond said, state officials decided to add additional days for enrollment or a "special enrollment period." The days between the March 31 deadline and the special enrollment period will allow for some tweaks to the technical system to allow for the extension, she said.
Huh. Good for them, but if that's the case, why not just bump this out to 4/15 and be done with it? Weird.
Not exactly a glowing review of Hawaii's performance, but the final 3/31 number is higher than before, anyway (I'm going with 7,990 as "under 8,000" for now)...no Medicaid news here, however:
April 01--As of Monday, the deadline for signing up for Obamacare coverage, fewer than 8,000 Hawaii residents had successfully enrolled, among the lowest in the nation.
...The Connector said it had 22,000 apply as of March 22. Those who applied but did not finish the process have the opportunity to complete their applications even though the deadline has passed.
...Kataria said there are more than 11,000 Connector applicants being held up because of the problem with DHS.
...DHS said it only agreed to collect information necessary to make a Medicaid determination and isn't required to collect additional data for the Connector.
