Washington State

Washington State

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

Washington HealthPlan Finder

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.

However, the same legislation which created the "Cascade Care" program also included another provision which was noteworthy at the time:

Washington HealthPlan Finder

This just in from the Washington Health Benefit Exchange...

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.

Washington State

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.

Washington HealthPlan Finder

This just in from the Washington Health Benefit Exchange...

The Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) reports that tens of thousands of Washingtonians now pay less each month for healthcare coverage. Within two months of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) becoming federal law, the Exchange passed on the expanded savings it made available to new and current customers on the state’s insurance marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder.

“There has never been a better time to sign up for healthcare coverage in Washington,” said Pam MacEwan, Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange. “We’ve been hearing from people across the state who are saving hundreds or in some cases more than a thousand dollars per month.”

Tracy Roberts from Seattle posted to Facebook, “I just opened my bill for July and it’s $242 less than I presently pay . . . That’s incredible! Absolutely incredible and completely unexpected. Life will be a little easier for now.”

Washington HealthPlan Finder

This just in from the Washington Health Benefit Exchange...

Today, Pam MacEwan, CEO of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, issued the following statement regarding the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA): 

“The Exchange is relieved to see the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. Over 860,000 Washingtonians receive health care coverage through the ACA. The ACA is here to stay.

“Today Washington residents continue to benefit from the consumer protections that have been incorporated into both federal and state law which includes protections from annual and lifetime caps, excessive waiting periods, pre-existing condition exclusions, and discrimination based on gender, race, national origin or disability.

“The American Rescue Plan Act expanded the ACA allowing Washingtonians to save on the cost of their individual health insurance. The new act now makes it easier to get covered and stay covered, with the opportunity to take advantage of savings by signing up or switching plans by August 15, 2021.

Washington State

I've once again relaunched my project from last fall to track Medicaid enrollment (both standard and expansion alike) on a monthly basis for every state dating back to the ACA being signed into law.

For the various enrollment data, I'm using data from Medicaid.gov's Medicaid Enrollment Data Collected Through MBES reports. Unfortunately, they've only published enrollment data through December 2020. In most states I've been able to get more recent enrollment data from state websites and other sources.

For Washington State, I'm using adjusted estimates based on raw data from the Washington State Health Care Authority.

Washington State

 Now that I've developed a standardized format/layout & methodology for tracking both state- and county-level COVID vaccination levels by partisan lean (which can also be easily applied to other variables like education level, median income, population density, ethnicity, etc), I've started moving beyond my home state of Michigan.

Here's Washington State:

NOTE: The CDC lists ~142,000 Washington State residents (4.2% of the total fully vaccinated) whose county of residence is unknown.

Washington HealthPlan Finder

This just in from the Washington Health Benefit Exchange...

Pam MacEwan, CEO Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange), issued the following statement today after the signing of Cascade Care 2.0 into state law:

“Today’s signing of the Cascade Care 2.0 bill sets the stage to improve the quality, availability, and affordability of the health plans offered through Washington Healthplanfinder. 

“This bill establishes a state premium assistance program that will benefit over 100,000 low-income Washingtonians struggling to pay for health insurance; increases statewide availability of the state’s first-in-nation public option program; and builds on the success of the high-quality Cascade Care standard plans – that have created average savings of $1,000 in out-of-pocket costs. 

Washington HealthPlan Finder

This just in from the Washington Health Benefit Exchange...

Washington Health Benefit Exchange Opens the Doors for Washingtonians to Benefit from Lower Health Care Premiums and Save Money Through the American Rescue Plan

  • More Than $250 Million in Tax Credits Available to Help Washingtonians Lower Health Insurance Costs

Health coverage purchased on Washington Healthplanfinder became much more affordable today as the Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) rolled out new savings to help Washingtonians with the cost of their individual health insurance.

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