Not only is New Mexico's exchange enrollment up a whopping 29% vs. the same point last year, it's actually already 15% higher than the 2024 OEP's final total of 56,472!
Not only is New Mexico's exchange enrollment up a whopping 31% vs. the same point last year, it's actually already 13.5% higher than the 2024 OEP's final total of 56,472!
New enrollment is actually down slightly year over year, but enrollment jumped so much last year that there's a much larger pool of current enrollees to renew their policies.
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), approved section 1115 demonstration amendments that allow, for the first time ever, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage of traditional health care practices provided by Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities, Tribal facilities, and urban Indian organizations (UIO). Today’s action is expected to improve access to culturally appropriate health care and improve the quality of care and health outcomes for tribal communities in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oregon, and will support IHS, Tribal, and UIO facilities in serving their patients.
The bad news is that I was only able to acquire effectuated enrollment for 3 of New Mexico's 4 individual market carriers participating in 2025 (a fifth carrier, Western Sky, is dropping out of the market entirely).
The good news is that I'm able to roughly estimate the enrollment of the remaining carrier (BCBS NM) if I look at on-exchange effectuated enrollment as of February and assume that another 10% or so is off-exchange. That gives me an estimated weighted average increase of 10.6%.
Even if that estimate is wrong, it doesn't make much difference since the unweighted average is around 10.1% anyway.
As for the small group market, I only have an unweighted average there of 8.6%.
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham today signed into law legislation that builds on the administration’s work to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for every New Mexican.
“Delivering quality healthcare to New Mexico’s population requires a tailored approach that takes into account rural communities, New Mexicans benefiting from Medicaid, and the tens of thousands of public employees in our state,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham. “These are bills that are going to positively impact a vast swath of New Mexicans.”
The governor signed these important healthcare bills during a ceremony at Sierra Vista Hospital in Truth or Consequences.
As an aside, I was a bit confused about the name of the city so I looked it up. Huh.
BeWell NM, New Mexico's state-based ACA exchange, has launched a very handy new Enrollment Data portal which includes plenty of info for a data hound like myself to pore over:
Last night was the official deadline for the 2024 ACA Open Enrollment Period in New Mexico. As of today, their dashboard reads:
UPDATE: I've received a correction directly from BeWell NM:
because of the MLK holiday, enrollments are being accepted by beWellnm through 11:59 pm today.
Number of enrolled consumers: 55,771
Consumers enrolled in Medical coverage: 54,914
Consumers enrolled in Dental coverage: 14,399
While dental coverage is also important, standalone dental plans aren't considered Qualified Health Plans (QHPs); it's the "Medical Coverage" which is the key number here.
Also, the total number above may look confusing, but most of the Medical & Dental coverage enrollees overlap:
BeWell NM, New Mexico's state-based ACA exchange, has launched a very handy new Enrollment Data portal which includes plenty of info for a data hound like myself to pore over:
First, the top line numbers (as of 1/12/23):
Number of enrolled consumers: 54,318
Consumers enrolled in Medical coverage: 53,526
Consumers enrolled in Dental coverage: 13,787
While dental coverage is also important, standalone dental plans aren't considered Qualified Health Plans (QHPs); it's the "Medical Coverage" which is the key number here.
Also, the total number above may look confusing, but most of the Medical & Dental coverage enrollees overlap:
Medical Only: 40,531
Dental Only: 792
Medical + Dental: 12,995
For comparison, last year BeWell NM reported enrolling just 38,384 people through January 7th, so it breaks out as: