Colorado: 30.8K QHPs in first 29 days

h/t to Louise Norris who beat me to the punch for once:

DENVER — Between Nov.1 and Nov. 29, more than 46,000 Coloradans enrolled in health coverage for 2016, either in private health insurance purchased through the state health insurance Marketplace or in Medicaid, or Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+), according to new data released today by Connect for Health Colorado® and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.

“The steady enrollment gains that we have seen during first month of Open Enrollment are very encouraging,” said Connect for Health Colorado® CEO Kevin Patterson.  “But now we have just two short weeks to complete enrollment before December 15 – the deadline for coverage to take effect on January 1. I encourage anyone who has not signed up to do it today. Going to our website to find free, in-person help is a great way to start.”

Whether you are renewing or enrolling for the first time, you must complete enrollment by December 15, to have coverage January 1, and avoid a gap in your coverage. Open Enrollment runs through January 31.

Open Enrollment began November 1.  During the first month, 30,777 people enrolled in private health care coverage through Connect for Health Colorado®. In addition, the coverage gains include 14,599 in Medicaid and 650 in CHP+.

“It’s good to see so many Coloradans enrolling in health coverage for themselves and their families,” said Sue Birch, MBA, BSN, RN,  executive director, Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. “We especially encourage our new members to get preventive care, such as a flu shot.”

OK, technically speaking that's 29 days, not 30. Here's the breakdown:

• 6,718 QHPs in the first 8 days (840 per day)
• 6,696 more QHPs in the next 7 days (957 per day)
• 17,363 more QHPs over the next 14 days (1,240 per day)

In other words, the rate of enrollment is definitely ramping up each week. Colorado has now reached 30,777 total in 29 days, or 1,061 per day on average so far. They'll have to average 2,065 per day for the full Open Enrollment period in order to hit my target of 190K.

Unfortunately, there's no other demographic breakdown available as of this writing (APTC vs. full price; new versus renewals; etc).

One thing, though: If you try to compare this year vs. last, it looks as though QHP selections are only around 15% higher on average (1,061/day vs. 919/day). If that rate were to hold true for the full period, CO would only reach around 162,000.

However, remember again that #OE3 started two weeks earlier than #OE2, which means that there's still 16 days unaccounted for before the 12/15 deadline this year, vs. only 4 days unaccounted for last year. Not only should things ramp up substantially, there's also the autorenewal factor to consider.