CMS

via the Washington Health Benefit Exchange:

Public comment at Washington Health Benefit Exchange Board  includes 10 testimonials, plus additional stories 

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washingtonians shared stories of how access to more affordable health insurance has affected lives and communities all across the state, with Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) Board last week. The testimonials were particularly impactful in light of a myriad of recent federal changes to state-based marketplaces such as the Exchange, and the impending potential expiration of enhanced premium tax credits (ePTC) before Congress.  

Originally posted 7/17/25

Now that I've finally completed overhauling & updating my House District Healthcare Enrollment Pie Chart project with the latest data, I wanted to address a rather frustrating elephant in the room.

For most of the healthcare programs involved, the enrollment data is now reasonably up to date:

• ACA Qualified Health Plan (QHP) enrollment is as of February 2025 via official Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) public use files.

• ACA Basic Health Plan (BHP) enrollment is as of April 2025 (NY), May 2025 (OR) or July 2025 (MN) via each state's health department monthly reports.

The Trump Regime has published an update to the official Medicaid/CHIP enrollment data:

April 2025 Key Findings - Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment

• In April 2025, 78.4 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
• 71.1 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid, and 7.3 million individuals were enrolled in CHIP.
• 41.1 million adults were enrolled in Medicaid, and there were 37.3 million Medicaid child and CHIP enrollees.

Medicaid and CHIP Applications Received

The Musk/Trump Regime has published an update to the official Medicaid/CHIP enrollment data:

March 2025 Key Findings

Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment

• In March 2025, 78.6 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
• 71.3 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid, and 7.3 million individuals were enrolled in CHIP.
• 41.2 million adults were enrolled in Medicaid, and there were 37.3 million Medicaid child and CHIP enrollees.

Medicaid and CHIP Applications Received

via the Washington Health Benefit Exchange:

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Ingrid Ulrey, CEO of Washington Health Benefit Exchange, the state-based marketplace for Affordable Care Act plans, released a statement today following the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) announcement of the 2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Final Rule.  

“Together, this major new regulatory action, plus imminent Congressional action on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, plus the potential expiration of enhanced premium tax credits at the end of this year is a perfect storm for nearly 300,000 Washingtonians who rely on our marketplace to purchase private health insurance.” 

A few weeks ago, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued their official projection of just how much damage the combined effect of the House GOP's budget reconciliation bill (officially the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act") would cause to healthcare coverage in the U.S.: Over 16 million Americans would lose coverage, over half of whom (~8.2 million) are currently enrolled in ACA exchange plans.

If this happens, it would mean the ACA exchange market would drop by more than 1/3 from the ~24.2 million currently enrolled (myself & my own family included).

However, I've repeatedly stated that even this is likely a low estimate--the remaining ~16 million exchange enrollees would still be hit with MASSIVE (and in some cases eye-poppingly huge) premium hikes which would force them to drop to far worse plans (meaning much higher deductibles & co-pays; worse provider networks and so on).

Back in March, the Health & Human Services (HHS) Dept. and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a so-called "Marketplace Integrity & Affordability Rule" which would include sweeping changes to how the ACA exchanges (both the federal one (HealthCare.Gov) and the 20-odd state-based ones (Covered California, MNsure, etc) operate, as well as who is or isn't eligible to enroll in ACA exchange coverage, restrictions on subsidy eligibility and so forth.

Many of these changes are simply repeals/reversals of improvements put into place during the Biden Administration; others are completely new ones being put into place by the Trump Regime under RFK Jr. & Dr. Oz.

However, until today, these were still technically only proposed changes. Now they're official. The final version isn't quite as bad as it could have been, and there's one or two items on the list which I'm not that upset about, but overall...yeah, it's pretty ugly.

The Musk/Trump Regime has published an update to the official Medicaid/CHIP enrollment data:

January 2025 Key Findings

Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment

• In January 2025, 78.8 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
  • 71.4 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid, and 7.3 million individuals were enrolled in CHIP.
  • 41.4 million adults were enrolled in Medicaid, and there were 37.4 million Medicaid child and CHIP enrollees.

Medicaid and CHIP Applications Received

The Musk/Trump Regime has published an update to the official Medicaid/CHIP enrollment data:

November 2024 Key Findings

Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment

• In December 2024, 78.8 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
  • 71.5 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid, and 7.3 million individuals were enrolled in CHIP.
  • 41.4 million adults were enrolled in Medicaid, and there were 37.4 million Medicaid child and CHIP enrollees.

Medicaid and CHIP Applications Received

• In December 2024, Medicaid, CHIP, Human Services agencies, and State-based Marketplaces received 3.0 million applications, or 11 percent more applications, as compared to November 2024.
• The number of applications received has increased by 30 percent since December 2023 and increased by 84 percent since December 2022.

Total Medicaid/CHIP enrollment in December 2024 dropped slightly from November, by 171,000 people or 0.2%.

After a concerning 2-month delay, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finally published an update to the official Medicaid/CHIP enrollment data:

November 2024 Key Findings

Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment

• In November 2024, 79.0 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
  • 71.8 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid, and 7.3 million individuals were enrolled in CHIP.
  • 41.5 million adults were enrolled in Medicaid, and there were 37.5 million Medicaid child and CHIP enrollees.

Medicaid and CHIP Applications Received