Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) reports that as of Dec. 24, over 230,000 customers have signed up for health coverage for 2022, an increase of 7% over last year. That number includes nearly 30,000 new customers who have signed up so far this year. Washingtonians still looking for 2022 coverage have until the final open enrollment deadline of Jan. 15 to sign up through Washington Healthplanfinder, the online marketplace operated by the Exchange.
Not only is 230K up 7% over the same point last year, it's already up 3.3% over last year's final OEP enrollment total (222,731 QHP selections). They'll have to add at least 13,300 more between now and January 15th in order to beat the state's all-time record set in 2018, however.
Washington Healthplanfinder Sees Surge in Customers as Final 2022 Deadline Approaches
Select a plan by Jan. 15 for coverage that begins Feb. 1
Thousands of Washingtonians signed up for health coverage over the past week on Washington Healthplanfinder to beat the Dec. 15 deadline for coverage that will begin Jan. 1. With that date now passed, individuals still seeking 2022 health coverage have until Jan. 15, 2022 to shop on Washington Healthplanfinder for coverage that begins Feb. 1.
“We were glad to see a record number of enrollees secure coverage that starts Jan. 1,” said Chief Executive Officer Pam MacEwan. “And we want to encourage customers who still have not signed up to do so before Jan. 15. It’s especially important this year because there are so many opportunities for savings.”
This open enrollment period has seen a record number of Washingtonians sign up for health care coverage through Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s online health insurance marketplace. Currently, more than 217,000 customers have selected a new plan or reenrolled in their existing coverage for 2022. Individuals seeking coverage that will start on Jan. 1, 2022 have until Dec. 15 to enroll.
This is up slightly from the 212,815 QHPs reported in Washington State as of 11/27 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this morning, which makes sense since the 217K figure presumably runs through 12/08.
Early Childhood Education Workers Highlighted During National Week of Action
New State Program Offers Zero Dollar Health Coverage for Those Who Qualify
This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are spotlighting early childhood education workers during a National Week of Action. Coinciding with that event, Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) is showcasing a new affordability program, for employees of child care facilities across Washington State. Employees of licensed child care facilities who qualify can receive high quality health care coverage with no monthly premiums. The program is available exclusively through the state’s online health insurance marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder.
Over 208,000 Washington Residents Sign Up During First Week of Washington Healthplanfinder Open Enrollment
Most customers can save by comparing plans
The annual open enrollment period for Washingtonians seeking health care coverage in 2022 began Monday, Nov. 1. Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) reports over 208,000 customers in Washington have already secured health coverage for 2022 through Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s online insurance marketplace.
More Options, Expanded Savings Available Now During Washington Healthplanfinder’s 2021 Open Enrollment Period
Beginning Monday, Nov. 1, Washingtonians seeking health coverage can shop, compare and sign up by visiting Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s online health insurance marketplace. The annual open enrollment period allows all new and existing customers a chance to sign up or change health plans for the upcoming year.
“As our communities begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, we know Washingtonians are looking toward the future,” said Exchange Chief Executive Officer, Pam MacEwan. “The security of health care coverage is an important part of the way forward for Washington. We encourage anyone looking for coverage to come take advantage of new options and more savings than ever before.”
Back in July, I posted a summary of Washington State's preliminary 2022 ACA premium rate change filings for the individual and small group markets. At the time, WA carriers were requesting average increases of 5.5% for the former and 4.1% for the latter.
A few weeks back (Sept. 20th), the state insurance dept. issued their final/approved rate changes for 2022...but only for the individual market, and even then, only for carriers offering on-exchange policies. The small group filings and those for 3 of the 15 individual market carriers which only offer off-exchange policies are still pending review. However, those three only have a combined total enrollment of around 1,300 people, and the requested rate change for one of them partly cancels out the other two, so unless there's some truly eyebrow-raising changes to the final rates, I don't expect this to move the needle much:
Average 4.17% rate change approved for 2022 Exchange health insurance market
A couple of years ago, Washington became the first state to implement their own "Public Option" ACA healthcare plan...sort of. The actual version of the PO which was implemented ended up being considerably less impressive than the original vision, but hey, it was a start.
Record Numbers of Washingtonians Sign Up for Health Care Coverage During 2021 Special Enrollment Period
LATEST DATA SHOWS IMPACT OF AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT SAVINGS. NEARLY HALF OF ALL CUSTOMERS PAY LESS THAN $100 PER MONTH.
Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) announced on Tuesday more than 57,000 Washingtonians signed up for health care coverage between February 15 and August 15 on the state’s insurance marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder. The Exchange opened a Special Enrollment Period in February in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. This allowed any individual in Washington the opportunity to apply for coverage or compare and upgrade their existing insurance.
Every year, I spend months tracking every insurance carrier rate filing for the following year to determine just how much average insurance policy premiums on the individual market are projected to increase or decrease.
Carriers tendency to jump in and out of the market, repeatedly revise their requests, and the confusing blizzard of actual filing forms sometimes make it next to impossible to find the specific data I need. The actual data I need to compile my estimates are actually fairly simple, however. I really only need three pieces of information for each carrier:
How many effectuated enrollees they have enrolled in ACA-compliant individual market policies;
What their average projected premium rate change is for those enrollees (assuming 100% of them renew their existing policies, of course); and
Ideally, a breakout of the reasons behind those rate changes, since there's usually more than one.
Usually I begin this process in late April or early May, but this year I've been swamped with other spring/summer projects: My state-by-state Medicaid Enrollment project and my state/county-level COVID-19 vaccination rate project.
