Washington State: 150K QHPs; 5 days left for January coverage

A week or so ago, the Washington exchange released their November numbers, reporting 123,000 QHP selections through 11/30.

Yesterday they issued a mid-December update; the total number is now up to over 150,000:

The upcoming deadline coincides with the biggest surge in sign-ups seen during the current enrollment period. Since the start of the month more than 27,000 customers have selected plans for coverage starting Jan. 1, bringing the total number of those selecting coverage since the start of open enrollment to over 150,000.

Washington State has an unusual "auto-renewal" system set up; people are given the option to decide whether they want to be auto-renewed at the point that they sign up in the first place. If they choose that option, they'll be auto-renewed like residents of other states, but if they don't (or if they don't qualify for this option for some reason), they'll have to actively choose to renew/re-enroll during open enrollment.

As a result, while they have 144,097 current enrollees and have already auto-renewed those who qualify, as of 10 days ago, 31,840 of those still hadn't actively renewed their policies.

Today's post by the exchange doesn't break out the additional 27,000 between active renewals and new additions, so it could range anywhere between 27K renewals + 4,800 new or, theoretically, 0 renewals and 4,800 new (though that's unlikely). It's likely about 50/50, which would mean around 16,000 current enrollees still haven't actively renewed yet.

In any event, at 150,000 QHPs to date, Washington has reached 71% of my personal target of 210,000 for OE3...and still has 5 days to go before their 12/23 deadline for January coverage.