HealthSource RI data show Medicaid enrollment spike

A TOTAL OF 16,512 people had enrolled in private individual or family plans through HealthSource RI as of Feb. 8, according to new data released Tuesday. More than twice as many, 35,821, had enrolled for Medicaid.
A TOTAL OF 16,512 people had enrolled in private individual or family plans through HealthSource RI as of Feb. 8, according to new data released Tuesday. More than twice as many, 35,821, had enrolled for Medicaid.

PROVIDENCE – In the five weeks ended Feb. 8, 4,742 people enrolled in private plans through Rhode Island’s health care exchange, bringing the total number of HealthSource RI enrollments to 16,512.

Of those enrollees, 14,086, or 85 percent, had paid their first premiums.

In addition to reporting the private-plan enrollments, HealthSource RI also reported that Medicaid enrollments as of Feb. 8 totaled 35,821, climbing 80 percent from the 19,941 enrollments reported as of Jan. 4, according to the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

Of the 1,081 small employers who have initiated applications since small-business enrollment began in mid-November, 107 – or roughly one in 10 – completed enrollment. Those 107 employers represent 658 covered individuals, HealthSource RI said.

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The percentage of private-plan enrollees aged 45 and older has continued to decline, according to the latest data. A total of 8,797 enrollees, or 53 percent of the 16,512 individual and family plan enrollees, fell in the 45-54 and 55 and older age categories, compared with 56 percent as of Jan. 4 and 64 percent as of Nov. 30.

Meanwhile, enrollees in the 18-25 and 26-34 age categories numbered 4,184 as of Feb. 8, representing 25 percent of all HealthSource RI enrollees, compared with 23 percent as of Jan. 4 and 6.5 percent as of Nov. 30.

Last month, The New York Times published a ranking of the top state and federally run health care exchanges in terms of percent of private-plan enrollees aged 18-24 as of the end of December. Rhode Island, at 22 percent, came in at No. 30 among the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, below the national average of 24 percent.

President Barack Obama’s administration has said that 40 percent of enrollees, or 2.7 million out of a total 7 million, would need to be between the ages of 18 and 34 for the national exchange to work. HealthSource RI Executive Director Christine Ferguson has not supplied a percentage figure for the state exchange.

HealthSource RI enrollment breakdown by age:

  • Under age 18: 880
  • Age 18-25: 1,633
  • Age 26-34: 2,551
  • Age 35-44: 2,651
  • Age 45-54: 3,803
  • Over age 55: 4,994

HealthSource RI enrollment breakdown by gender:

  • Male: 7,570
  • Female: 8,942

HealthSource RI enrollment breakdown by plan type:

  • Catastrophic: 138
  • Bronze-level plan: 3,712
  • Silver-level plan: 9,734
  • Gold-level plan: 2,928

HealthSource RI enrollment breakdown by financial assistance received:

  • No financial assistance: 1,999
  • Advanced premium tax credits: 6,414
  • Advanced premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions: 8,099

HealthSource RI enrollment breakdown by carrier selected:

  • Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island: 15,967
  • Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island: 545

Open enrollment on the individual market (including plans for individuals and families) will remain open until March 31, 2014, after which individuals without coverage will be subject to federal penalties. Individuals who did not enroll and pay before the deadline for Feb. 1 coverage must sign up by Feb. 23 for coverage beginning March 1, according to HealthSource RI spokeswoman Dara Chadwick.

To boost enrollment, HealthSource RI last month unveiled a trio of new television advertisements intended to promote the exchange’s scheduled series of drop-in enrollment events to be held from Jan. 23 to March 4. For more information, visit www.healthsourceri.com.

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