Colorado: 46.3K QHPs thru 11/30; up 5.6% year over year so far

This just in...

Connect for Health Colorado Reports Increase in 2019 Medical Plan Selections

DENVER — More than 46,000 Coloradans selected health coverage through Connect for Health Colorado® during November, a number 6 percent ahead of the pace one year ago, according to new data released today.

“We started with a strong month but there are now only 12 days left to get coverage in place for Jan. 1,” said Connect for Health Colorado® CEO Kevin Patterson. “It is time for Coloradans who buy their own health insurance to act to protect their health and their family finances.”

During November, Connect for Health Colorado customers made 46,332 medical plan selections. The total was 43,881 medical plan selections for the comparable period in 2017. Fifteen percent of the plan selections are by customers who are new to Connect for Health Colorado and 85 percent are renewing customers.

Connect for Health Colorado opened for business Nov. 1 with rate increases lower than the state has seen in years, a streamlined application process that will save Coloradans time obtaining financial assistance and all seven health insurance companies returning to the individual market in 2019.

“We have a statewide network of 1,000 Brokers and Assisters who can help with these important decisions,” Patterson said. “I urge anyone in Colorado who buys their own health insurance to go now to Connectforhealthco.com to see what financial help they can get. Many are pleasantly surprised with what they find.”

More than 130,000 Coloradans got help paying for health insurance in 2018. Renewing customers qualifying for financial help will see their net premium – their cost after the Advance Premium Tax Credit – go down 24%, on average, in 2019.

Analysis shows that three out of four of Connect for Health Colorado customers who bought their health insurance with financial help will have an option for health insurance with a net premium (after financial help) less than $50 per month in 2019.

Open Enrollment runs from November 1, 2018, to January 15, 2019, but consumers need to enroll by December 15 to have coverage in place by January 1, 2019.

So far, of the 6 state-based exchanges which have reported their 2019 Open Enrollment Data...

• Colorado: 6% ahead of 2018 thru 11/30
• Connecticut: 12% ahead of 2018 thru 11/30 (includes autorenewals)
• Massachusetts: 4% ahead of 2018 thru 11/26 (includes autorenewals)
• Minnesota: 6% ahead of 2018 thru 11/14 (includes autorenewals)
• Rhode Island: 13% ahead of 2018 thru 11/28 (includes autorenewals)
• Washington State: 3% ahead of 2018 thru 11/28 (includes autorenewals)

• HealthCare.Gov: 11% behind 2018 thru 11/24

It's still too early to draw any hard conclusions here. Five of the six state-based exchanges listead include auto-renewals in their totals, making it impossible to run an apples-to-apples comparison...and the sixth one, Colorado, is one of several states which upgraded their premium pricing from "broad load" to "Silver Switcharoo" status, which means significantly better deals for subsidized enrollees. Most other states were already Silver Loading or Silver Switching last fall, but it's new to CO which could explain some of the uptick there.

I still haven't received any enrollment data from the largest state exchange (Covered California) or the remaining ones (DC, Idaho, Maryland, New York or Vermont.