ACA Sign-Ups Show Wide Variation By State, Ethnicity.
NPR Share to Facebook (5/2, Whitney) reports in its “Shots” blog on the picture of the Affordable Care Act that emerged from new data released Thursday. When insurance enrollment on exchanges and through brokers and on Medicaid expansion is taken together, enrollment overall was 17.8 million or more people, although there’s no data on how many were previously insured. Across states, California signed up the highest percentage of people – 43 percent – eligible for marketplace enrollment. As a group, the top 12 states enrolled at least 30 percent of their eligible populations, while the bottom 17 states enrolled 20 percent or fewer. Florida was a surprise, NPR says, at 39 percent or more of its eligible population, or the fourth highest in the nation. Latino enrollment is a possible disappointment, with only 400,000 using the Federal exchange to enroll out of some 10.2 million eligible.
The Washington Times (5/5, Howell) also reports on ACA enrollment.
Maryland, Ohio ACA Enrollment Swelled After Deadline. Two reports provide more complete views of the Affordable Care Act in states. The Baltimore Sun (5/3, Cohn) reports that Maryland, which suffered a near-total breakdown of its state exchange and will be ditching its software for Connecticut’s, added 7,500 more people to its insurance rolls after contacting the 18,000 who said they had trouble signing up. New data released this week showed the state enrolled 67,757 people by April 19. State officials said anyone who experienced trouble enrolling could still sign up. Medicaid enrollment in Maryland was 263,000. HHS Secretary Sebelius says Maryland’s numbers showed “brisk demand.”
The Dayton (OH) Daily News (5/3, Gnau) reports that Ohio almost doubled the number of residents who signed up for ACA plans on the Federal exchange right before and after the deadline. HHS said that 154,668 of Ohio’s estimated 285,967 eligible residents signed up by April 19. At the end of February, only 78,925 had done so. Medicaid and CHIP enrollment in Ohio was 2,549,762, up 208,000 people.
Original Posting from Bulletin Healthcare.
