West Virginia: 94% of all QHP enrollees PAID as of 5/01

I actually already posted an entry using this exact same story out of the WV Gazette, but thanks to Esther Ferington for pointing out something else that I missed in the article:

Health insurance enrollment numbers through the federal exchange surged to 18,631 between March 31 and the April 15 federal extension, Highmark West Virginia President Fred Earley said.

Highmark, the only insurer participating in West Virginia's Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace, also reported that 6,171 people have enrolled directly through Highmark since Oct. 1. 

The numbers released represent the highest jump in enrollment the company has seen since the ACA rollout; it reported in April that, as of March 31, 14,839 people had enrolled through the exchange and 5,292 purchased plans directly through Highmark. 

The company's exchange numbers are slightly lower than those released by the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, which reported that 19,856 West Virginians had selected plans through the exchange between Oct. 1 and March 31. According to Earley, the discrepancy likely is because Highmark has eliminated from its final enrollment numbers people who did not pay their first month's premium or missed payments between Oct. 1 and March.

"Our numbers show who have enrolled with us as of today,” Earley said, “and we'll still be processing people who've signed up in April and May to reach a final number." 

OK, did you catch that?

• Highmark is the only insurance company on the exchange in WV, so their total is the total for exchange-based QHPs in the state
• Highmark states the paid total as 18,631, vs. the HHS total as 19,856
• Highmark states that they expect more people to pay up over the next few weeks

In other words, in West Virginia, 93.8% of all exchange QHP enrollees have paid their first month's premium, and that's as of May 1st.

This is higher than the 93% "paid or will pay" figure that I've been assuming all along.

Thanks for playing, GOP. Next?