Connecticut's health insurance exchange is the first to meet its enrollment projections, but officials might be hoping to attract younger Nutmeggers before the 2014 open enrollment period ends.
Access Health CT was the first exchange to meet and exceed projections of private health plan enrollments set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which divvied up the 7 million nationwide that the Congressional Budget Office estimated is needed for a sustainable risk pool.
By the end of December, Access Health CT already exceeded the 33,000 qualified health plan members CMS projected for the state, with more than 34,000 enrolled.
"This is a tremendous accomplishment; however, our work is far from done," said Access Health CT CEO Kevin Counihan, a former Cigna VP and chief marketing officer at the Massachusetts Connector, back when that HIX was running smoothly and being touted as a model for national policy.
With Medicaid included, Access Health CT enrolled more than 60,000 residents in health coverage during the first round of open enrollment, and Counihan is hoping to have at least 100,000 enrolled by the end of March.
Access Health CT also has one of the few functioning websites for small business plans offered through the Affordable Care Act's SHOP program.
While its enrollment has been more than projected, the initial demographics of Access Health CT's private health plan members are skewing slightly older, following the national average so far: 8 percent younger than 18, 21 percent between the ages of 18 and 34, 25 percent between 35 and 54 and 35 percent between 55 and 64.
In all the exchanges, state-based and federally-facilitated, 24 percent of those who've selected qualified health plans so far are between the ages of 18 and 34, 37 percent are ages of 35 and 54, and 33 percent are ages 55 to 64.
The demographics of enrollment so far is only partly indicative of future success, but it it serving as a motivator for state insurance exchanges to double down on outreach and to think of new ways to reach younger consumers. In Washington State, where 18- to 34-year-olds represent only 20 percent of those who've enrolled in qualified health plans, the Washington Healthplanfinder is hoping to reach more youth through a new partnership with concert promoter Live Nation.
Access Health CT leaders are also perhaps less worried that some other exchanges, at least with their technology operations.
Access HealthCT has set up a new business division, Access Health Exchange Solutions, to deliver "an exchange in a box" to other states. "We've been contacted by a couple of states in different parts of the country asking if they can franchise or lease our platform," Counihan said recently.
The exchange is also is setting up a separate company, AccessHealth Analytics, to produce quality and cost studies from an all payer claims database that was turned over to its control, with the first reports due at the end of this year.