Healthy Michigan Plan – Enrollment Update

Total enrollment in the Healthy Michigan Medicaid expansion plan has hit 533,110 people, according to figures released by the Department of Community Health, more than 4,000 more people than was expected for the entire program.

The state also hit its total enrollment goal in slightly more than eight months. Open enrollment in Healthy Michigan began on April 1 and the state had anticipated hitting its projection of 477,000 enrollees by the end of 2015.

Community Health Director Nick Lyon said, in a release, that along with nearly 500,000 Michigan residents now having health insurance, the state has seen those recipients get more than 315,000 primary and preventative care visits to a physician.
Those recipients have also gotten 22,900 mammograms and 10,900 colonoscopies – considered critical to detect early indications of cancer – among the exams and visits they have had since acquiring health insurance.

The Healthy Michigan plan was adopted by the Legislature in 2013 following an intense legislative effort. It expands the availability of Medicaid to lower-middle income individuals.

Along with the state announcing the number of people who had enrolled in the plan, it also said the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation had been given a five-year contract to evaluate the program and how well it is meeting its overall goals.

That assessment is required by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Originally, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required all states to expand Medicaid to those populations but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that was unconstitutional. Michigan is one of the few states with a Republican governor and Republican-controlled Legislature to expand Medicaid to that population.

Michigan officials initially anticipated some 300,000 people would sign up for the program in 2014, but met that goal in July.

The state then exceeded 400,000 enrollees in September.

Hitting the enrollment goals means “Michigan residents are stepping up to take preventative measures that will improve their long-term health and well-being,” Mr. Lyon said.

As the program continues, Mr. Lyon said the state’s focus “will be on ensuring that beneficiaries not only have the necessary health resources they need, but also understand how to use them.”

Ultimately, the state will see a population in the program of more than 500,000. The growth in the program has slowed in recent months, but has not yet hit a stable position.

The federal government will pay the full cost of the additional Medicaid population for the first three years, and beginning in the 2017 fiscal year, the state will pay 10 percent of the cost, which Mr. Lyon said will be about $100 million.
But the state is also seeing budget savings as the federal government is now covering behavioral health services.

The fact that so many people signed up for coverage in such a short time “shows there was a real demand for coverage,” Mr. Lyon said, “and that people saw the need for health insurance for themselves and their families.”