Medicaid, CHIP Gain 10.1M Enrollees Since First ACA Open Enrollment

On Monday, the Obama administration announced that more than 10.1 million U.S. residents have enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program since the launch of the Affordable Care Act's first open enrollment period, McClatchy DC reports.

That enrollment rate is a 17.5% increase over the average monthly enrollment for both programs before exchange enrollment opened in October 2013.

According to McClatchy DC, the increase came primarily from the 28 states and Washington, D.C., that expanded Medicaid under the ACA. Those areas added 8.7 million of the new beneficiaries and experienced a 25.5% enrollment increase.

Meanwhile, there were 1.4 million new beneficiaries in the 22 non-expansion states, which collectively increased their enrollment by almost 7%.

All told, nearly 69 million U.S. residents had coverage through CHIP or Medicaid as of November 2014.

Reaction

In a blog post, Vikki Wachino, acting director for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, wrote, "We are encouraged by the interest from governors from all across the country who understand both the economic benefits of Medicaid expansion and the health and financial security it brings to many individuals" (Pugh, McClatchy DC, 2/2).