4,715 NH Obamacare Enrollments in February and an Updated Look at the Pool
March 2014
Josh Elliott-Traficante
5,417 Granite Staters selected an insurance policy on the federal exchange in February. Since open enrollment began in October a total of 21,578 people have selected coverage. Overall, there has been very little change in the demographics of the pool since January, which is to be expected since as the pool grows larger, the harder it is to change the numbers.
Plans Purchased:
Looking at the different polices purchased (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Catastrophic) there was only a minor change to the percentage share of Gold level plans, likely due to rounding. Otherwise, the market shares of the other plans remained unchanged.
|
Bronze |
Silver |
Gold |
Platinum[i] |
Catastrophic |
|
|
New Hampshire |
23% |
59% |
17% |
N/A |
1% |
|
Change over Jan |
0 |
0 |
-1 |
N/A |
0 |
A Demographic Look:
The New Hampshire pool saw a small increase in the proportional size of the 26-34 cohort, mirroring single percentage point increases in the 18-25 and the 35-44 cohorts realized last month. As with last month, there was also a corresponding decrease in the 55-64 cohort.
The likely cause is, generally speaking, the older the person, the more insurance coverage is valued. Those were the people most likely to select policies in the early months of open enrollment, while younger people have delayed until the final months.
Despite the increase in younger enrollments, the 18-34 cohort saw its share of the pool only increase a single percentage point to 24%. Nationally the share remained unchanged at 25%, still well short the intended target of 40%.
|
<18 |
18-25 |
26-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55-64 |
>65 |
18-34 |
|
|
New Hampshire |
5% |
8% |
16% |
14% |
23% |
34% |
0% |
24% |
|
Change over Jan[ii] |
+1 |
0 |
+1 |
0 |
0 |
-2 |
0 |
+1 |
Subsidies:
The percentage receiving subsidies remained unchanged from January, at 74%. For the current pool, that translates to 16,038 receiving a subsidy, while 7,610 are not.
Looking at subsidy data, cross referenced with plan level, there was little change over last month. For those who did not qualify for subsidies, there was roughly an equal distribution between the three metal plans, with a small number opting for a catastrophic plan.[iii] Those receiving subsidies overwhelming continue to choose Silver level plans over the other three options. (Look for a piece coming soon explaining why)
|
New Hampshire |
Bronze |
Silver |
Gold |
Catastrophic |
|
With Subsidies |
19% |
68% |
13% |
0% |
|
Without Subsidies |
35% |
30% |
31% |
4% |
Who Has Paid?
One glaring hole in the data released from HHS is the percentage of people who have paid their first month’s premiums. The law requires insurance companies to carry policy holders for three months without payment before cancelling their policies. For those receiving coverage starting in January, anyone being dropped would not show up in the data until after the open enrollment period ends.
Despite claims from HHS that they do not know how many have paid, insurance industry officials contend that they actually do. Insurance companies estimate that nationally, between 15% and 20% have yet to pay for their premiums.