Missouri just voted #YesOn2 to expand Medicaid, and now, because of YOUR vote, over 230,000 hardworking people will have access to life-saving healthcare!pic.twitter.com/azHN0GJjEW
— YesOn2: Healthcare for Missouri (@YesOn2MO) August 5, 2020
Last summer, when activists in both Missouri and Oklahoma were preparing for this historic vote, I wrote the following:
How NY State of Health Enrollees Benefit from the American Rescue Plan
The American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law on March 11, 2021, will lower health care costs by providing new and expanded financial assistance to New Yorkers enrolling in health insurance through NY State of Health. This enhanced assistance is available to current enrollees and new enrollees, including to higher-income individuals for the first time. Starting in early April, individuals with low and moderate incomes can access higher tax credits. Starting in June, NY State of Health will apply these higher tax credits to current enrollees without requiring any action by the enrollee. Also in June, higher-income New Yorkers can access the new tax credits.
The information on this page is organized into six sections. Click the section from the following list to learn how the American Rescue Plan can help you:
GOV. HOGAN ANNOUNCES EXTENSION OF STATE HEALTH INSURANCE SPECIAL ENROLLMENT PERIOD UNTIL AUG. 15
(BALTIMORE) — Gov. Larry Hogan and Maryland Health Benefit Exchange announced today that the state health insurance marketplace, Maryland Health Connection, will extend its current Coronavirus Special Enrollment Period. Uninsured Marylanders have the opportunity to enroll in health coverage now until Aug. 15.
This deadline aligns with the federal special enrollment period extension announced by President Joe Biden for those 35 states that use HealthCare.gov, the federally run health insurance marketplace.
“We are pleased to announce the additional extension of this special enrollment period to Aug. 15, which
is already one of the nation’s longest in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Governor Hogan.
“Our administration remains committed to ensuring Marylanders have access to the resources they need
UPDATE 3/16/21:Health Source Rhode Island just released their 2021 OEP report as well; they ended up down around 8% y/y. With that, I now have either the final official enrollment numbers or at least close approximations for all 50 states + DC. The table, graph and text below have been updated accordingly.
With New York State of Health releasing their 2021 Open Enrollment Report data (w/some caveats), I now have official (or semi-official) enrollment data for 49 states and the District of Columbia. The odd man out is Rhode Island...which also happens to be one of the smallest states with the smallest number of ACA enrollments; last year they enrolled around 34,600 people.
There's a few caveats:
New York's QHP tally included enrollments through 2/28; the official CMS report will likely cut them off as of 1/31.
The numbers for DC, Idaho, Rhode Island and Vermont are estimates...it's possible that the official numbers for each will be slightly lower.
At the very worst, the official CMS 2021 OEP report will come in at something like 11.98 million or so.
UPDATE 3/16/21: With Rhode Island added, the semi-official tally comes in at just over 12.0 million (12,005,270 QHP selections total). Again, it could drop slightly below that if my estimates for a handful of states are off, but it should be damned close to it.
I've done my best to label every state/territory, which obviously isn't easy to do for most of them given how tangled it gets in the middle. For cases per capita, the most obvious point is that New York and New Jersey, which towered over every other state last spring, are now dwarfed by North & South Dakota, although things are pretty horrible nearly everywhere now.
1 out of every 8 residents of North Dakota, South Dakota and Rhode Island have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past year.
1 out of every 9 residents of Utah, Iowa, Tennessee and Arizona have tested positive.
1 out of 10 in Oklahoma Arkansas, Nebraska, South Carolina, Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi,Indiana and Idaho.
1 out of 20 in every state except Washington, Oregon, Maine, Vermont and Hawaii.
Governor McKee and HealthSource RI Announce New Enrollment Period Extended Through August 15
Historic level of financial assistance is now available through HealthSource RI.
New Enrollment Period has been extended through August 15, 2021, adding three months to the previous May 15, 2021 deadline.
Starting April 1, most HSRI customers will have a lower monthly bill.
Beginning in summer 2021, HSRI will make more financial assistance available to people who previously did not qualify to receive it based on their income.
Individuals and families who have received unemployment payments in 2021 will be newly eligible for additional financial help for this year or may qualify for health coverage at no cost.
Rhode Islanders should enroll in coverage as soon as possible to take full advantage of these new benefits.
A few weeks ago, Pennie (Pennsylvania's ACA exchange), like several other state-based exchanges, put out a simple statement celebrating the passage of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and the dramatic improvement in ACA affordability that it brings for the next two years. Like most of the other exchanges, Pennie's initial press release was pretty bare-bones, as the bill had just been signed into law and there were a ton of logistical details to be worked out.
Implement ARP provisions as soon as possible, and as broadly as possible, to maximize savings for Pennie customers
Automate these provisions, to the extent possible, to ensure that the benefits under the new law reach Pennie customers without requiring customer action
Ensure that customers who need to take an action are given specific instructions on what they need to do to maximize their benefits
Use this unique opportunity to connect more Pennsylvanians to comprehensive coverage and reduce the number of uninsured throughout the Commonwealth
Last week the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange issued a press release touting impressive enrollment numbers over the past year via their year-long COVID-19 Special Enrollment Period (SEP). The topline number was that they enrolled over 140,000 Maryland residents in either ACA exchange policies or Medicaid.
Since Medicaid enrollment is open year-round anyway, the number I'm obviously more interested in are the exchange plans, which most people can normally only enroll in during the official Open Enrollment Period each fall/winter. Since COVID has thrown that mostly into disarray, however, I've been keeping a close eye on SEP enrollment in 2020 and now in spring of 2021 as compared to the pre-COVID era, when the SEP rules were far more strictly adhered to.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has updated their ACA Exchange Subsidy Calculator tool, which lets you plug in your household information and calculate how much you're eligible for in subsidies, as well as telling you things like:
Your percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
The full-price benchmark Silver plan
Your net price for the benchmark Silver plan
The net price of theleast-expensive Bronze plan
The maximum you'd have to pay in out-of-pocket costs
It's been updated to reflect the newly-expanded & enhanced subsidies available under the American Rescue Plan for 2021 & 2022. The official ACA exchange websites will have this data available over the next few weeks depending on which state you live in (HealthCare.Gov is supposed to go live on April 1st; Covered California on April 12th; other states will vary):
