Maryland: 87.3K QHPs, 69K Medicaid, HHS Projection Total Achieved

The total numbers aren't much higher than the last update, but that's understandable; this official report only includes 3 more days, including a quiet holiday weekend:

As of Jan. 4, 156,305 Marylanders have enrolled in quality, affordable health coverage for calendar year 2015, since the 90-day open enrollment period began Nov. 15. That includes 87,348 people enrolled in private Qualified Health Plans and 68,957 people enrolled in Medicaid.

Marylanders can enroll by Jan. 18 for coverage effective Feb. 1 and, if eligible, for an Advanced Premium Tax Credit (APTC) to immediately lower their monthly insurance bills. Marylanders who were enrolled for 2014 should re-enroll by Jan. 18 for an Advanced Premium Tax Credit that begins Feb. 1. They will receive any tax credit owed for January 2015 when they file their federal income tax return in 2016.

Open enrollment for 2015 for Maryland Health Connection ends Feb. 15.

It's worth noting that Maryland continues to enroll people in QHPs at a rate 28% faster than all of last year's Open Enrollment Period (433/day vs. 339/day last year) even without the big December surge.

This is more remarkable considering that it includes the "dead periods" of Christmas Eve/Day and New Year's Eve/Day...whereas the 339/day average from last year included both the December and March surges.

If Maryland is indicative of how the "quiet period" enrollments go for the nation as a whole, it's a very good sign, but I'm proceeding with caution here--last week's "weekly snapshot" for HC.gov was actually quite a bit slower than I figured even with Christmas mixed in.