Last year, on March 31st, ACASignups.net received a whopping 31,000 unique visitors; the next day I had just over 30,000. This year, I received 2,400 unique visitors yesterday, and have hit roughly 2,700 as of 8:00pm today. Even here, the origin of the ACA Signups project, diaries about the Big Deadline only received middling attention this go around.
Needless to say, the "Can We Hit X Enrollments??" buzz is far more subdued than the feeding frenzy last spring.
On a personal level, I'm no longer really being interviewed, but have been quoted more frequently (This USA Today story in particular seems to be getting syndicated all over the place today; it was even embedded over at the Detroit Free Press, making it the only time that the Freep, Det News or Oakland Press have noticed the site sitting right under their noses, but I digress...)
I'm not sure what larger meaning this has in terms of the dangers of corporate media consolidation, but it basically means that I've gone from being the Flavor of the Month to an Established Healthcare Wonk, for good or for bad.
In any event, there have only been 2 actual enrollment numbers given out since yesterday (Maryland broke 113K last night, plus a rough update from Washington State today), probably due to the northeast snowstorm and the fact that today is Presidents Day (most federal/state offices closed).
Instead, the Big Story of the day is that last night wasn't the End of Enrollment by a long shot...by mid-afternoon, every state except 3 had announced some sort of extension period (although unlike last spring, when it was a consistent 4/1 - 4/15 for 49 states, the specifics and end dates are all over the place this time around):
--Healthcare.Gov clarifies "In Line by Midnight" enrollment period extension
--Idaho wins the prize for most cryptic deadline extension policy
—And Then There Were Three: Minnesota announces "In Line by Midnight" extension as well
—#ACAOvertime: No Sleep 'til Brooklyn: Deadline Extension Roundup (UPDATE x5)
Washington State had the most eyebrow-raising announcement, however; in addition to wrapping things up with a nice little boost (160K QHPs, still far short of their target but much better than it was looking just a few days earlier), they decided on one heck of an overtime enrollment period policy:
--In which Washington State effectively extends their enrollment period by another 2 months
—Washington State: 160K QHPs; "Tax Season" Enrollment Period Officially Announced
In other words, every state except Hawaii, Vermont and Kentucky is allowing anywhere from 5 days (California) to a whopping 60 days (Washington) for people who were "waiting in line" to wrap things up...and 2 states (Massachusetts and Rhode Island) aren't including the "wait in line" caveat. Furthermore, HI and VT only have miniscule potential numbers to work with, and Kentucky was likely pretty much tapped out for the year anyway.
In short, there's ample opportunity for up to 600,000 more people to enroll in exchange QHPs over the next week and a half, which leads me to...
--How I expect the #ACAOvertime period to play out...and beyond...