New York: NYSoH releases carrier-level 2019 enrollment breakout

This just in from New York State of Health...

Press Release: NY State of Health Releases 2019 Enrollment Data by Insurer
Mar 12, 2019

• New Yorkers Value Choice of Plans
• 2019 Enrollment is Spread Across NY State of Health’s 12 Qualified Health Plan Insurers and 16 Essential Plan Insurers

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 12, 2019) - NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace today released 2019 health plan enrollment by insurer. Twelve insurers offer Qualified Health Plans (QHP) and sixteen insurers offer the Essential Plan (EP) statewide in 2019. Most consumers have a choice of at least four QHP and EP insurers in every county of the state. 

“We are pleased to once again offer consumers a broad choice of high-quality, affordable health plan options in every county of the state,” said NY State of Health Executive Director, Donna Frescatore. “And the wide distribution of enrollment across insurers shows us that consumers value this choice.”

Marketplace enrollment is at its highest point ever. More than 1 million (1,062,025) people enrolled in QHPs and EP as of January 31, 2019, an increase of 70,072 from 2018.

2019 Enrollment by Insurer: Qualified Health Plans

The 12 insurers offering individual QHP coverage in 2019 each participate in five to 56 counties.  Fidelis, which offers QHP coverage in 56 counties of the state, has the largest share (39 percent) of total statewide QHP enrollment followed by Healthfirst (15 percent), which offers coverage in seven counties including New York City; MVP (seven percent), which offers coverage in 48 counties; and Empire BCBS (seven percent), which participates in 17 counties.  The balance of statewide enrollment was spread across the remaining insurers, as shown in the table below.  

Note:  In this table, insurers are shown by their d/b/a (doing business as) and sum to more than 12.

Marketplace insurers each have different service areas comprising specific counties. Comparing enrollment by insurers’ respective service areas shows significant distribution of enrollment across plans. No one insurer has more than half of the enrollment in their service area and similar to 2018, most insurers have between five and 25 percent of the enrollment in their respective service areas.  Fidelis enrolled 40 percent of QHP consumers in its service area, followed by Excellus with 36 percent, HealthFirst with 25 percent, BCBS of Western NY with 23 percent, Independent Health with 22 percent, and MVP with 21 percent of enrollment in their respective service areas.  The remaining insurers each had less than 20 percent of enrollment in their respective service areas, as detailed below. 

2019 QHP Individual Market Share by Insurer

Note:  In this table, insurers are shown by their d/b/a, or “doing business as,” since they may differ depending on geographic region of the State, and sum to more than 12.

The Essential Plan

Sixteen insurers offered the Essential Plan (EP) in 2019 – the same 15 insurers that offered EP in 2018 with one addition, Capital District Physicians Health Plan (CDPHP) which offers EP in the Capital District. Statewide, 22 percent of EP enrollment was with Fidelis Care, 21 percent with Healthfirst, 15 percent with United Healthcare, 10 percent with MetroPlus, and the remaining 32 percent was spread across the remaining insurers.  

2019 Essential Plan Enrollment by Insurer

Note:  In this table, insurers are shown by their d/b/a (doing business as) since they may differ depending on geographic region of the State, and sum to more than 16.

Comparing EP enrollment by insurers’ respective service areas likewise shows significant distribution of enrollment across plans. Excellus, which provides Essential Plan coverage in a 31-county service area serving the Southern Tier, Central New York, and the North Country, is the only insurer with more than 50 percent of EP enrollees in its respective service area. Four insurers – HealthFirst, Fidelis, Independent Health, and MVP – each have between 22 and 26 percent of enrollment in their respective service areas.  All other insurers have between four and 16 percent of EP enrollment in their respective service areas. 

2019 Essential Plan Market Share by Insurer

Note:  In this table, insurers are shown by their d/b/a (doing business as) since they may differ depending on geographic region of the State, and sum to more than 16

Additional demographic and health plan specific information for the 2019 Open Enrollment Period will be available in the coming weeks.