The Arkansas Insurance Department on Tuesday released figures showing that 44,665 people who did not qualify for Medicaid had enrolled in coverage through Arkansas’ health-insurance exchange as of Monday.
However, Insurance Department spokesman Heather Haywood acknowledged that the total includes thousands of people whose plans were later canceled.
As of April 7, the number of plans that had been canceled stood at 2,960, out of a total of 41,401 people who were reported to have selected plans at that time.
Haywood said she didn’t have information on how many canceled plans were included in the enrollment total released Tuesday.
State Rep. David Meeks, R-Conway, said he planned to request the information before the Legislature’s public health committees meet Thursday.
Including the canceled plans in the enrollment total is “misleading at best,” Meeks said.
“We need to make sure that we have the accurate information out there,” Meeks said.
The April 7 enrollment total included 27,501 people who had made at least one premium payment, which is required before coverage takes effect.
An additional 10,940 people were enrolled but had not yet paid their first month’s premium.
Those whose plans were canceled could have later selected a different plan, meaning the same person would be counted more than once in the overall enrollment total of 41,401, Haywood said.
Haywood said last month that the department’s reporting method mirrored that used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which includes in its national enrollment totals those who have selected a plan, whether or not they have paid their first month’s premiums.
Federal officials have said they do not have complete information on the number of people nationwide who have paid their premiums.
A Health and Human Services Department official said last week that the national enrollment totals do not include people whose plans have been canceled. President Barack Obama said last week that more than 8 million people had enrolled in coverage through exchanges set up in every state.
Haywood said many people with canceled plans may have later enrolled in a different plan.
“We know that once you select a plan, there is not an option to change that, so a consumer has to cancel that plan and begin the enrollment process over,” Haywood said.
Established under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, exchanges allow people to shop for coverage and apply for subsidies to help pay for it.
Under Arkansas’ so-called private option, the state’s Medicaid program will pay the full premium on private insurance plans for adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level: $16,105 for an individual, for example, or $32,913 for a family of four.
Tax-credit subsidies are available in some cases to those who don’t qualify for Medicaid and have incomes below 400 percent of the poverty level - $45,960 for an individual, or $94,200 for a family of four.
While enrollment in the private option has exceeded officials’ expectations, reaching 121,442 as of March 31, sign-ups among those who don’t qualify for Medicaid have lagged.
A consultant to the Insurance Department predicted in 2011 that more than 115,000 people who did not qualify for Medicaid coverage would enroll in coverage through the exchange in 2014.
Enrollment through the exchanges began Oct. 1 for coverage that started Jan. 1. Those who qualify for Medicaid can enroll throughout the year. For others, the enrollment deadline was March 31, although those who started applications on a federal enrollment portal, healthcare.gov, before the deadline were given until April 15 to complete their enrollment.
Those who submitted paper applications have until April 30 to complete their enrollment, Haywood said.
“The numbers that we released, certainly, we anticipate will continue to increase,” Haywood said.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/23/2014