Maryland Health Connection has cut by 40 percent the number of Marylanders who were eligible for private insurance coverage when the state marketplace began three years ago. That leaves about 240,000 individuals who remain eligible for private coverage through MarylandHealthConnection.gov. An estimated 405,000 people were eligible when the marketplace began. That does not include those eligible for Medicaid. "With the help of many partners and sister state agencies, we've made sizable progress in reducing the number of uninsured Maryland families," said Carolyn Quattrocki, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, which administers MarylandHealthConnection.gov. "And we have many plans in the works to enhance consumer assistance and make even greater progress in the coming open enrollment that begins Nov. 1." Maryland achieved one of the fastest growth rates year-over-year of any state in the country for 2016, according to the blog ACASignups.net. The state also made major gains in coverage for groups that had lacked health insurance - helping to cut Maryland's uninsured rate by half for African-Americans and Hispanics and tying for ninth nationally among all state exchanges in the share of young adults covered in private plans. Including Medicaid, more than 1 million Marylanders have been enrolled in health coverage through Maryland Health Connection. Nine in 10 people insured through the marketplace have received financial support to lower or waive their costs in private insurance or Medicaid.

In 2015 and 2016, MHBE asked the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) to analyze the geographic distribution of Maryland's remaining eligible population. SHADAC is a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a part of the Health Policy and Management Division of the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. The research center applied MHBE's enrollment data to 3 Census regions known as PUMAs (Public Use Microdata Areas) to assess how many eligible Marylanders remain. It excluded estimates of unauthorized immigrants and of uninsured workers who declined qualified health coverage from their employer - individuals who would not be eligible for financial assistance under the Affordable Care Act. SHADAC estimated that in 2013 roughly 493,000 Marylanders were eligible for private insurance coverage through the state marketplace because they were uninsured or had individual coverage such as COBRA. After subtracting Marylanders with ineligible immigration statuses as well as workers who declined coverage available through their jobs, about 405,000 remained. As Maryland Health Connection enters its fourth year, an estimated 240,000 are eligible for private qualified health insurance through the marketplace. That figure includes adults under 65 with private non-group health insurance and incomes above 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level who could be eligible for financial assistance through Maryland Health Connection. The next open enrollment begins Nov. 1 for coverage in 2017. People who've experienced a qualifying life event, such as losing other health coverage, may be eligible to enroll prior to that. Also, those who qualify for Medicaid may enroll yearround.