President Joe Biden is set to announce that his administration is expanding eligibility for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter.
The action will allow participants in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, to access government-funded health insurance programs. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before the formal announcement on Thursday.
Nearly one-third of Washington residents receive access to their health and dental insurance through Washington Healthplanfinder
More than 253,000 Washingtonians enrolled in a qualified health plan (QHP) through Washington Healthplanfinder for plan year 2024.
Approximately 81% of QHP customers are receiving Cascade Care Savings (Washington’s state subsidy) and/or are eligible for federal premium subsidies.
Almost 90,000 people receiving Cascade Care Savings save an average of $514 per member per month in combined federal and state subsidies, for an average net premium of $68.
Enrollment into health insurance through Washington Healthplanfinder continues to grow, with a record number of more than 253,000 Washingtonians signing up for a plan for 2024. Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) released its Spring 2024 Enrollment Report today, reflecting upon the success of its most recent open enrollment period, which ran from Nov. 1, 2023, through Jan. 15, 2024.
Welp. With last weeks news that House Republicans have decided to once again go to war with the Affordable Care Act if they gain a federal trifecta this November, it's time once again to take a look at just how many of their constituents are at risk of losing their healthcare coverage entirely or, at best, facing massive premium increases (which in most cases would have the same effect by making their coverage cost far more than they could possibly afford).
Alongside this weekends release of the final, official 2024 ACA Open Enrollment Period (OEP) data, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has also pulled together estimates of how many residents of each Congressional District selected ACA exchange plans during the 2024 OEP:
This is, of course, extremely important since household income is one of the most critical factors in calculating how much financial assistance enrollees receive (or if they're eligible for Advance Premium Tax Credits (ATPC) at all).
If you've ever wondered why healthcare wonks (myself included) almost never even bring up the ACA's Catastrophic Level plans and why the only time I ever discuss Platinum Plans is in the context of high-CSR enrollees being eligible for "Secret Platinum" plans (labeled as Silver), this table should explain why.
Next up: Age brackets, gender, racial/ethnic groups and urban/rural communities. I'm also throwing in the stand-alone Dental Plan table here for the heck of it since I don't know where else to include it.
I don't have a ton to say about any of these, really. It's always interesting to me to see that 1.7% of ACA exchange enrollees are 65 or older. Not sure why they aren't on Medicare but I'm sure there are logical reasons.
Now it's time to move on to the actual demographic breakout of the 2024 Open Enrollment Period (OEP) Qualified Health Plan (QHP) enrollees.
First up is breaking out new enrollees vs. existing enrollees who either actively re-enroll in an exchange plan for another year or who passively allow themselves to be automatically renewed into their current plan (or to be "mapped" to a similar plan if the current one is no longer available).
The table below has the data for both Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) in all 50 states + DC as well as Basic Health Plan (BHP) enrollment in Minnesota and New York only, compared to the 2023 OEP.
