California

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My recent obsession with COVID vaccination rates means that I've fallen embarrassingly behind on my annual ACA rate change project, and nothing illustrates this more than the fact that Covered California issued this press release over two weeks ago and I'm just now getting to writing about it:

  • The American Rescue Plan will continue to provide lower premiums, at levels never seen before, throughout the entire 2022 coverage year.
  • The new and expanded financial help has led to a record 1.6 million people enrolled in Covered California, which gives the state one of the healthiest consumer pools in the nation for the seventh consecutive year.
  • The record enrollment and healthy consumer pool were key factors in negotiating a preliminary rate increase for California’s individual market of just 1.8 percent in 2022, and a three-year average of only 1.1 percent (2020-2022).
  • With expansions of coverage by several carriers and a new carrier in one region, consumers will have even more choice: All Californians will have two or more choices, 94 percent will be able to choose from three carriers or more, and 81 percent of Californians will have four or more choices.
  • Consumers can sign up now to benefit from the increased financial help provided by the American Rescue Plan, which is lowering premiums and enabling 700,000 people to get covered for only $1 per month.
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This just in from Covered California:

Covered California Sets New Enrollment Record as Thousands Get Lower Premiums From the American Rescue Plan as June Deadline Approaches

  • A record 1.6 million people are actively enrolled in Covered California, including 139,000 who signed up for quality health care coverage since lower premiums became available through the American Rescue Plan.
  • Covered California is also launching a provision that allows thousands of eligible Californians, who received unemployment insurance benefits at any point in 2021, to get the best coverage available for as low as $1 per month.
  • Consumers can use Covered California’s quick calculator to easily find out if they benefit from the new $1 per month provision.
  • The next deadline for coverage is the end of the month: Consumers who enroll by June 30 will be insured starting July 1.
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via Covered California:

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Latest Challenge to the Affordable Care Act and Preserves the Landmark Health Care Law for a Third Time

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee applauded today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to dismiss challenges to the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act leaving the law intact to the benefit of millions of Americans.

“The Supreme Court – in rejecting claims challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act – has once again upheld the law that is helping millions of Americans benefit every day from health care coverage and broad consumer protections.  It is time to move on, focus on improving the law and reach true universal coverage. 

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via Covered California...

  • The American Rescue Plan provides new and expanded financial help that dramatically lowers health insurance premiums for people who purchase health insurance through Covered California.
  • More than 45,000 people in the Monterey and Salinas regions — including the uninsured and people currently enrolled directly through a health insurance carrier — stand to benefit from the new financial help that is now available.
  • In order to maximize their savings, consumers need to enroll by June 30 so they can begin saving and benefiting from the new law on July 1.
  • Many people will be able to get a high-quality plan for as little as $1 per month, and currently insured consumers could save hundreds of dollars per month on their coverage if they switch to Covered California.
Covered California Logo

via Covered California...

  • The American Rescue Plan provides new and expanded financial help that dramatically lowers health insurance premiums for people who purchase health insurance through Covered California.
  • More than 52,000 people in the Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo regions — including the uninsured and people currently enrolled directly through a health insurance carrier — stand to benefit from the new financial help that is now available.
  • In order to maximize their savings, consumers need to enroll by June 30 so they can begin saving and benefiting from the new law on July 1.
  • Many people will be able to get a high-quality plan for as little as $1 per month, and currently insured consumers could save hundreds of dollars per month on their coverage if they switch to Covered California.
Covered California Logo

via Covered California...

  • The American Rescue Plan provides new and expanded financial help that dramatically lowers health insurance premiums for people who purchase health insurance through Covered California.
  • More than 32,000 people in the Chico and Redding region – including the uninsured and people currently enrolled directly through a health insurance carrier – stand to benefit from the new financial help that is now available.
  • In order to maximize their savings, consumers need to enroll by June 30 so they can begin saving and benefiting from the new law on July 1.
  • Many people will be able to get a high-quality plan for as little as $1 per month, and currently insured consumers could save hundreds of dollars per month on their coverage if they switch to Covered California.
California

I've once again relaunched my project from last fall to track Medicaid enrollment (both standard and expansion alike) on a monthly basis for every state dating back to the ACA being signed into law.

For the various enrollment data, I'm using data from Medicaid.gov's Medicaid Enrollment Data Collected Through MBES reports. Unfortunately, they've only published enrollment data through December 2020. In some states I've been able to get more recent enrollment data from state websites and other sources.

Today I'm presenting The Big One: California. For enrollment data from January 2021 on, I'm relying on adjusted estimates based on raw data from the CA Dept. of Health Care Services. I actually ran the numbers for California a month ago, but the MBES data has been updated and I've started breaking out expansion enrollment between "previously eligible" and "newly eligible" with a different graph format, so I decided to re-do CA as well.

Covered California Logo

via Covered California...

  • The American Rescue Plan provides new and expanded financial help that dramatically lowers health insurance premiums for people who purchase health insurance through Covered California.
  • More than 11,000 people in the Eureka region – including the uninsured and people currently enrolled directly through a health insurance carrier – stand to benefit from the new financial help that is now available.
  • In order to maximize their savings, consumers need to enroll by June 30 so they can begin saving and benefiting from the new law on July 1.
  • Many people will be able to get a high-quality plan for as little as $1 per month, and currently insured consumers could save hundreds of dollars per month on their coverage if they switch to Covered California.
California

Now that I've developed a standardized format/layout & methodology for tracking both state- and county-level COVID vaccination levels by partisan lean (which can also be easily applied to other variables like education level, median income, population density, ethnicity, etc), I've started moving beyond my home state of Michigan. Here's California, and it's pretty eye-opening.

Covered California Logo

via Covered California...

  • The American Rescue Plan provides new and expanded financial help that dramatically lowers health insurance premiums for people who purchase health insurance through Covered California.
  • An estimated 272,000 people in the Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto region – including the uninsured and people currently enrolled directly through a health insurance carrier – stand to benefit from the new financial help that is now available.
  • In order to maximize their savings, consumers need to enroll by May 31 so they can begin saving and benefiting from the new law on June 1.
  • Many people will be able to get a high-quality plan for as little as $1 per month, and currently insured consumers could save hundreds of dollars per month on their coverage if they switch to Covered California.

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