I didn't actually get around to writing up the post until June, but I actually bought the car, a 2022 Kia Niro EV, in early March...March 5, 2022 to be precise, almost exactly one year ago.
With a year of real world driving (including an 1,100 mile (round trip) road trip from Metro Detroit to the District of Columbia) baked in, I figured this would be a good time to post an update on how things are going for those who've never owned an EV and are wondering about the good, the bad & the ugly of the experience.
Before I get started, I should take a moment to note that the EV industry and market have both gone through some tumultuous changes over the past 12 months, including (but not limited to):
As of this writing, 69.3% of the total U.S. population has completed their primary COVID-19 vaccination series (including 94.3% of those 65+), but a mere 16.2% of the total population has also gotten their updated bivalent booster shot. Even among seniors it's only at 41.4% nationally.
Harrisburg, PA – At the conclusion of Pennie’s Open Enrollment Period on January 15th, nearly 372,000 Pennsylvanians were enrolled in a comprehensive health plan. Almost 245,000 Pennsylvanians were automatically renewed into a 2023 plan, another 62,000 existing customers returned and shopped for a plan, and nearly 65,000 new enrollees joined the marketplace in 2023.
Pennie provides significant savings on health coverage to improve access to health care and to counter rising costs. Almost 90 percent of total customers are receiving financial savings, which on average, is more than $520 a month for those customers. With these savings, over 32 percent of customers pay less than $50 a month for coverage, and over 50 percent of customers pay less than $150 a month.
4,318 Rhode Islanders are newly insured, supporting state’s outstanding insured rate of 97%
PROVIDENCE – HealthSource RI (HSRI) announces that its annual Open Enrollment period has concluded as of January 31, with 4,318 Rhode Island residents newly enrolled in the affordable qualified health plans available through the state marketplace. An additional 24,343 individuals, or 83% of last year’s customers, renewed their coverage during the same period starting November 1.
That's 28,661 QHP selections total, down 11.4% from the 2022 Open Enrollment Period.
“We’re encouraged that each year more Rhode Islanders are taking advantage of the quality, affordable coverage options available to them through HealthSource RI,” said Governor Dan McKee. “Rhode Island continues to be a national leader in health coverage and HSRI is an instrumental piece of the effort to maintain our extraordinarily high rate of insurance coverage.”
UPDATE 3/15/23: The agreed-to Medicaid expansion deal has passed the NC State Senate! It now just needs to pass the state House one final time and then it's on to Gov. Cooper's desk to be signed into law!
UPDATE 3/8/23: HB 400 just overwhelmingly passed the New Mexico House!
HUGE NEWS! #HB400 just passed the House Floor by a vote of 58-10! Huge thanks to Rep. @reenaszcz & Speaker @JavierForNM for their work carrying #MedicaidForward through the House of Representatives & to everyone who reached out to their legislator. On to the Senate! #nmleg#nmpol
— NM Together for Healthcare (@NMT4HC) March 8, 2023
Well, the lines didn't flip after all in January--the reddest quintile jumped up faster than the bluest quintile after all--two months earlier than I expected:
Bluest Quintile: 4.70 per 100K residents
Reddest Quintile: 5.33 per 100K residents (13% higher)
The January gap wasn't that significant by itself...except that it had looked like the rate in the reddest quintile might be lower last month.
Sure enough, the COVID death rate gap between the reddest and bluest fifths of the country widened out more in February, with the rate in the reddest quintile running 63% higher than the bluest quintile (4.22/100K vs. 2.39/100K). The rate actually dropped from January to February in every quintile, but it dropped considerably more in the bluest fifth (to the lowest rate since April 2022) than the reddest.
via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), by email:
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the latest enrollment figures for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). These programs serve as key connectors to care for more millions of Americans.
Medicare
As of November 2022, 65,372,781 people are enrolled in Medicare. This is an increase of 136,217 since the last report.
35,114,923 are enrolled in Original Medicare.
30,257,858 are enrolled in Medicare Advantage or other health plans. This includes enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans with and without prescription drug coverage.
Based on current COVID-19 trends, the Department of Health and Human Services is planning for the federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 (PHE), declared under Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, to expire at the end of the day on May 11, 2023. Thanks to the Administration’s whole-of-government approach to combatting the virus, we are in a better place in our response than we were three years ago, and we can transition away from an emergency phase.
