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Moments ago I posted the news that the HHS Dept. (via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid) has confirmed what I wrote about nearly a month ago: Enrollment in ACA healthcare policies are at an all-time high, with over 31 million Americans currently covered by either ACA exchange plans, ACA Medicaid expansion or ACA Basic Health Plan coverage.

This news is based on a formal report issued by the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation (ASPE). Let's take a closer look!

Health Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act: Enrollment Trends and State Estimates

Based on enrollment data from late 2020 and early 2021, approximately 31 million people were enrolled in Marketplace or Medicaid expansion coverage related to provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the highest total on record.

KEY POINTS

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A month ago I noted that by my back-of-the-envelope math, total enrollment in ACA healthcare coverage had likely reached 30 million people, concluding that:

#ACA Enrollment Is At An All-Time High Right Now Almost Any Way You Slice It.

I based this on a rough comparison of ACA enrollment in 2016 (which saw the highest ACA Open Enrollment Period enrollment to date, with nearly 12.7 million people selecting Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) during the official OEP) versus the most recent data available as of spring 2021.

My rough math was as follows (spring 2016 / spring 2021):

COVID-19 Icon

Nearly 50% of all Americans over the age of 12 are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which is a fantastic milestone to have reached this quickly.

HOWEVER...nearly 20,000 Americans are still testing positive for COVID-19 every day, and 400 are still dying of it every day.

If you're not vaccinated, GET VACCINATED AND KEEP WEARING A MASK UNTIL 2 WEEKS AFTER YOUR SECOND SHOT.

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.

NOTE: I've recently updated the spreadsheet to account for the official 2020 Census Bureau populations of every state. In most cases this has nudged their case & mortality rates down slightly.

Nearly 1 out of every 7 residents of North Dakota, South Dakota and Rhode Island have tested positive for COVID-19 to date.

More than 1 out of every 8 residents of Iowa.

More than 1 out of every 9 residents of Tennessee, Utah, Arizona, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas and Wisconsin.

More than 1 out of 10 in New Jersey, Indiana, Delaware, Alabama, Illinois, Florida, Mississippi, Kansas, New York, Minnesota, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Massachusetts.

More than 1 out of 20 in every state & territory EXCEPT Guam, Maine, Oregon, Vermont, U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaii, N. Mariana Islands & American Samoa.

Indiana

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 Indiana. For enrollment data from January 2021 on, I'm relying on adjusted estimates based on raw data from the Indiana Family & Social Services Administration.

Illinois

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 Illinois. For enrollment data from January 2021 on, I'm relying on adjusted estimates based on raw data from the Illinois Dept. of Healthcare & Family Services.

Idaho

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 Idaho, which only actually implemented Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act starting in January 2020...and thank God they did, because less than 2 months later everything hit the fan when the COVID pandemic hit the U.S., hard. In Idaho's case I've gotten data through April directly via the Idaho Dept. of Heath & Welfare.

Hawaii

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.

Delaware

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.

New York State of Health

Yes, that's right: I'm finally getting over my obsession with county-level COVID-19 vaccination data analysis.

New York State of Health, NY's ACA exchange, just issued the following press release:

Press Release: Governor Cuomo Announces Enrollment through NY State of Health Tops 6 Million

  • State Marketplace Reaches Record-Breaking Levels
  • American Rescue Plan Offers Significantly More Financial Assistance for Consumers 

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that New York State of Health - the state's official health plan Marketplace - has reached a record-breaking enrollment total of 6 million New Yorkers who have signed up for health insurance through the Marketplace across Medicaid, Essential Plan, Child Health Plus and Qualified Health Plans. This momentous milestone coincides with the new and increased financial assistance now available to New Yorkers through the American Rescue Plan for consumers enrolling in commercial coverage.

Georgia

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 Georgia:

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