Connecticut: 101K QHP selections thru 11/30 w/autorenewals; 12% ahead of last year

Two weeks ago I reported that Access Health CT, Connecticut's ACA exchange, had enrolled 12,777 people in 2019 ACA exchange policies, running neck and neck with last year. This included active renewals and new enrollees only.

Last night, CT Post reported that as of November 30th, the CT exchange had gone ahead and auto-renewed all current enrollees as well, for a total of 101,054 people:

HARTFORD — Enrollment in Access Health CT is higher this year than it was last year at this time, but time is running out.

Officials said they’ve enrolled 9.685 customers who are new to the exchange this year, and they’ve auto-enrolled more than 91,000 customers who purchased plans with them in 2018. That brings total enrollment up to 101,054 individuals as of Nov. 30.

Last year, about 90,428 individuals had enrolled by this time.

That means that unlike the federal exchange, Connecticut joins several other state exchanges in outperforming last year so far (in CT's case, by 11.8% to date). However, this is an apples-to-oranges comparison because HealthCare.Gov only includes active renewals and new enrollees in their mid-season reporting; the auto-renewals (which make up millions of people) won't be added until after Open Enrollment is over, so it's difficult to draw any conclusions yet.

Last year, Connecticut enrolled about 114,000 individuals, but not everyone stayed enrolled. Some may have gotten jobs that offered insurance, while others simply stopped paying their premiums. The number of enrollees dropped to about 96,000 this year.

That's a 15.7% net attrition rate through the end of the year, which is actually remarkably good...nationally the average tends to be closer to 25% or so through November.

Customers who purchased plans in 2018 should have received their annual renewal notice between October 24 and 27, 2018. Auto-renewals started happening automatically on Nov. 19.

Customers who received a notice saying they are eligible to be automatically enrolled for 2019 still have choices and can pick a different plan, Access Health CT Director of Marketing Andrea Ravitz said.

It's important to note that while Access Health CT extended the deadline last year, they don't appear to be doing so this time around:

Last year, enrollment lasted until Dec. 22, but it ends this year on Dec. 15.

Officials have yet to make a decision about whether to extend the enrollment deadline.