Maryland kicks major ass: 165K QHPs, 10% higher than projection, 37% higher than 2015

I just received an update out of the Maryland Health Connection:

As of 2/1, total QHPs are 165,123 (49,377 new + 115,746 renewal-active and passive).

It's important to note that Maryland is still taking OE3 enrollees through Friday via their "In Line by Midnight" extension due to the lingering impact of the snowstorm a couple of weeks back, so MD's final official number will actually be slightly higher than this.

Even without the stragglers, however, Maryland kicked butt again this year, enrolling over 10% more people than the 150K that both they and I were expecting (and even more than my preliminary projection of 163K)...and a whopping 37% higher than 2015's total.