The good news about the Montana Insurance Dept. is that once the final, approved annual rate changes for the individual and small group markets are released, they're pretty good about posting them in a clear, transparent manner.
The bad news is that they only do so for the final rates, not the preliminary/requested rate filings.
For that, I have to yet again rely on an unweighted average of the rate filings from the federal Rate Review website.
Montana only has three carriers on the indy market and four on the small group market. Of these, Montana Health Co-Op is providing their actual enrollment numbers for both, although one is in a roundabout way. For their individual market filing they state that:
Unfortunately, Mississippi is another state which provides zero useful rate filing data for my purposes (preliminary or final) prior to the Open Enrollment Period launching. The only data I have is from the federal Rate Review website, and even the filing forms there are heavily redacted, so all I can put together are unweighted averages for the 2024 calendar year.
It's worth noting that one of the three UnitedHealthcare divisions appears to be dropping out of Mississippi's small group market, as is Humana (which seems to be pulling out of a lot of small group markets nationally).
With that in mind, unsubsidized individual market enrollees are looking for unweighted average increases of around 2.3%, while small group carriers are hoping to increase rates by around 4.5% (again, unweighted).
UPDATE 11/07/23: In the end, there were virtually no changes made to the final/approved rate changes for either market.
In July 2023, 91,521,722 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
In July 2023, 91,521,722 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
84,504,888 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid in July 2023, a decrease of 1,106,693 individuals (1.3%) from June 2023.
7,016,834 individuals were enrolled in CHIP in July 2023, an increase of 17,565 individuals (0.3%) from June 2023.
As of July 2023, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP has decreased by 2,396,487 individuals since March
2023, the final month of the Medicaid continuous enrollment condition under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.
Medicaid enrollment has decreased by 2,284,727 individuals (2.6%).
CHIP enrollment has decreased by 111,760 individuals (1.6%).
Between February 2020 and March 2023, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP increased by 23,043,140 individuals (32.5%) to 93,918,209.
Medicaid enrollment increased by 22,709,822 individuals (35.4%).
CHIP enrollment increased by 333,318 individuals (4.9%).
President Joe Biden is set to announce that his administration is expanding eligibility for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter.
The action will allow participants in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, to access government-funded health insurance programs. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before the formal announcement on Thursday.
As long-time readers know, every year during the ACA Open Enrollment Period (OEP) I have a tradition of regularly updating a graph tracking how many Americans have enrolled in on-exchange Qualified Health Plan (QHP) policies nationally. The Graph®, as I've come to call it, is how this entire website got started; the logo for ACA Signups even consists of a stylized version of the original version from the 2013 - 2014 OEP.
That first year I attempted to track every conceivable population--on-exchange QHPs, off-exchange QHPs, Medicaid expansion enrollment, SHOP (ACA small business exchange) enrollees) and even the amorphous "sub-26er" populations of young adults enrolled in their parents employer plans thanks to ACA provisions. Some of these were nearly impossible to accurately estimate, but I really tried my best.
Over the next year or two, I not only dropped the categories which I wasn't able to track properly, my tracking of the remaining ones became much more streamlined and sophisticated. Eventually I decided to stick with just two categories: On-exchange QHPs and those enrolled in the Basic Health Plan (BHP) programs in Minnesota and New York.
Here's the preliminary 2024 rate filings for Iowa's individual & small-group markets. Unfortunately, I only have the enrollment data for the two smaller carriers on the individual market (and for only one carrier on the small group market). Oddly, while the Iowa Insurance Dept. has detailed rate filings for Medica and Oscar, it doesn't have one for Wellmark posted...and on the small group market, they only have publicly-available filing documentation for two of the eleven carriers.
Interestingly, CareSource Iowa, which only joined the state's individual market this year, appears to be dropping out of it again in 2024...or at least they don't have a listing showing up at RateReview.HealthCare.Gov as of this writing. Similarly, Aetna seems to be dropping out of the small group market as well.
In any event, based on my estimate of Iowa's total ACA-compliant individual market, I can make an educated guess as to the former's weighted average, which should be roughly a 5.7% drop in premiums.
Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s official health insurance marketplace, has announced that the maximum number of individuals (11,000) have submitted a Colorado Connect application for 2024 and been found eligible for Silver Enhanced Savings, the financial help for enrollees in the OmniSalud program.
Kevin Patterson, CEO of Connect for Health Colorado, released the following statement:
“We anticipated that we would see significant financial help determinations early in the enrollment period for OmniSalud; the response we saw yesterday and today has exceeded even our very high expectations. I’m truly grateful for and astounded by the response.
We understand people will be disappointed to learn the funding limit has already been reached, and we hope to continue to find ways to expand the program in the future to meet the demand. I want to express my gratitude for the additional spots made available this year as well as the extraordinary work from our enrollment network and community partners.
Harrisburg, PA – November 1, 2023, marks the beginning of Pennie’s 2024 Open Enrollment Period, which is the annual time when Pennsylvanians who need health coverage can find high-quality health plans at the lowest costs.
Pennie is Pennsylvania’s official health insurance marketplace, and the only source for financial savings to lower monthly premium payments or out-of-pocket costs. Nine out of 10 Pennie customers qualify for financial savings.
Pennie ensures that all plans available provide access to a wide range of medical services, including hospitalization, prescription drugs, maternity care, mental health services, and much more. Health plans through Pennie must cover care for pre-existing conditions, offer free preventive services, and provide important financial protections.
Connecticut residents can work one-on-one with enrollment specialists to help them shop, compare and enroll in quality health coverage
HARTFORD, Conn. (Nov. 2, 2023) — Access Health CT (AHCT) today announced it will hold six enrollment fairs in November to help Connecticut residents shop, compare, and enroll or renew their health coverage during the current Open Enrollment period. Enrollment fairs are one-day events that provide customers free, in-person help from enrollment specialists. These events will take place in Danbury, Hartford, New Haven, New London, Stamford and West Haven.
