Major Vermont Update: 52,000 Private Enrollments

The Vermont numbers have been alternately impressive and confusing at the same time.  The wording of a prior article from 12/12 made it sound like the 45,000 (at the time) people were split between private enrollments and Medicaid expansion, but also made reference to 29,200 people being enrolled "directly via their employer". At the time, I wasn't sure what to do with that number, so I ignored it. However, the more recent article again references the same 29,200 people; after comparing the 2 articles, it seems pretty clear to me that these would fall under the category of "direct" or "off-exchange" enrollees (although they also might fit under "small business exchange enrollments", which is a category I haven't even added yet). Add this to the 22,800 private exchange enrollments and you have 52K total.

In any event, these people are being counted by the Vermont Government towards their own state goal of 65,000 (the CBO has Vermont down as only 57,000), so they should definitely be counted towards the "7 million" CBO projection as well.

But it’s unclear how many of the close to 23,000 people who signed up for individual or family coverage through the Vermont Health Connect website have had their applications processed. It’s also unknown how many of those whose applications were processed have made a payment as the January 7 payment deadline looms.

...An additional 29,200 people signed up for coverage through their employer thanks to changes made in November to the health care exchange rollout.

The remaining 13,000 of the 65,000 Vermonters who are required by state law to sign up fall into three categories — individuals on private plans, individuals on VHAP or Catamount, and people receiving coverage through a small business employer whose plans have yet to expire.