The final 2016 deadline to enroll in a qualifying healthcare plan for policies starting coverage as of March 1st officially ended as of MIDNIGHT on January 31st.
As usual however, there are a few caveats to this...but not as many as the past two years:
Maryland had previously reported just over 150,000 QHPs as of 12/28/15, so this sounds about right: Around 5,000 more people in the first 3 weeks of January, with 10 days left to go (I'm not sure what date the 155K figure is through, I'll assume that's as of last night). That's roughly 220 per day.
Assuming no final week surge of any sort, Maryland should add roughly 2,200 more people by the 31st, but I'm guessing it'll be closer to another 5K, for perhaps 160K in the end.
Back on December 17, I noted that the Maryland ACA exchange had managed (with the help of automatic renewals) to achieve just under 150,000 QHP selections as of 12/15...which happened to be both their and my projected target for the full 2016 Open Enrollment Period. This was excellent for two reasons: They had effectively hit the target (well, 149,765, anyway)...and had done so with nearly 7 weeks to go.
1) More than 382,000 Marylanders have gotten coverage since Open Enrollment started.
As of Dec. 28, 362,520 Marylanders enrolled in health coverage for 2016, including 71,055 Marylanders who chose a new Qualified Health Plan, and 79,238 people already enrolled who renewed their plan for next year. This also includes 212,227 Marylanders who enrolled in Medicaid coverage through the state marketplace since Nov. 1.
In other words, like Massachusetts, Maryland has already hit the target for the 2016 Open Enrollment just halfway through the period. The difference is that Massachusetts never really issued their own formal target (well, OK, technically Maryland needs 235 more people...)
Sometime this week I'm expecting CMS to release a 2015 Q3 Effectuated QHP report showing how many people were still enrolled in (and paying for) ACA exchange policies as of September 30, 2015.
With two weeks to go before the Dec. 15 deadline for full 2016 health coverage, 31,740 people have enrolled in private health plans through Maryland Health Connection as of Dec. 1.
About 71 percent, or 22,477, were enrolled in silver plans, which provide savings in the form of advance premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions for those eligible to lower their cost..
In total, 139,244Marylanders have enrolled in coverage through the state’s health insurance marketplace since open enrollment began on Nov. 1. That includes 107,504 enrolled in Medicaid, which accepts applicants year-round.
Also, 8,880 individuals have enrolled in dental plans which are available for the first time through MarylandHealthConnection.gov for 2016. Of those, 4,022 people enrolled in dental along with a qualified health plan (QHP), 2,756 enrolled in dental along with Medicaid and 2,102 enrolled in a stand-alone dental plan.
Nearly 25,000 people have enrolled in private qualified health plans (QHP) through Maryland Health Connection for 2016.
As of Nov. 23, 19,675 Marylanders had enrolled in private coverage with some or most of their premium costs next year to be offset by advance tax credits. Another 5,310 enrolled in qualified health plans without tax credits. Nearly 72 percent, or 17,960, were enrolled in SIlver plans.
That's 24,985 QHPs total in 23 days, or 1,086 per day.
In addition, 1,708 people have enrolled in stand-alone dental plans and 5,235 more have enrolled in dental along with health coverage for a total of 6,943 with dental coverage next year.
Also, 87,941 were enrolled in Medicaid since Nov. 1 through Maryland Health Connection.
More than 57,000 people enrolled in health coverage through MarylandHealthConnection.gov during the first nine days of 2016 open enrollment, more than double the enrollment traffic during a comparable span a year ago.
Of the 57,213 who enrolled from Nov. 1 through Nov. 9, 10,867 were in private qualified health plans; 45,402 were in Medicaid and 944 were in stand-alone dental plans. The large Medicaid total included previous Medicaid enrollees who were in Maryland's former legacy system and were "redetermined" into the new web-based system.
The start of open enrollment on the state's online marketplace for health insurance went smoothly Sunday, officials said, with almost 780 people signing up by late afternoon and many others calling for information or meeting in person with professional advisers.
The Maryland health exchange launched free of the technical problems that disrupted enrollment in the first enrollment season beginning in the fall of 2013.
Performance improved in 2014. Consumers this time were promised a user-friendly website, a simpler application and better access to knowledgeable brokers to help them choose plans, exchange officials said.
Those moves were expected to help the state reach a goal of signing up 150,000 people in private plans, up from 115,000 last year.
"It was a good first day," said Andrew Ratner, exchange spokesman. "Especially being a Sunday."
By 4 p.m., 779 people had enrolled, including 461 in private plans and 136 in Medicaid, and 182 in dental plans.
