State Health Updates
- Colorado – The Department of Health Care Policy & Financing has released its annual, statutorily required reports. These reports measure Colorado hospital profits, reserves, costs, expenses and the level of community benefit that tax-exempt hospitals offer their communities in lieu of paying taxes.
- Idaho – CMS approved Idaho as the 48th state to extend postpartum coverage for a full year after pregnancy. Idaho’s approval marks 48 states, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands that have extended postpartum coverage. As a reminder, SHVS published an issue brief on the ARP option to extend postpartum coverage.
- Maine – The Maine Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace announced that nearly 65,000 people signed up for coverage in 2025 through CoverME.gov, the state’s official health insurance Marketplace, during open enrollment. The state saw a record number of new enrollees, with 11,285 new consumers who didn’t previously have insurance through the Marketplace.
- Maryland
- The Maryland Department of Health received CMS approval for reentry services and statewide expansion of housing supports. The first approval allows Maryland to provide targeted Medicaid services for incarcerated individuals who have substance-use disorders or serious mental illnesses up to 90 days before their release, starting July 1, 2025. The second approval enables the statewide expansion of the Assistance in Community Integration Services program, adding 1,240 participant spaces to provide housing and tenancy-based case management services.
- Governor Wes Moore signed a proclamation officially enshrining into Maryland’s constitution an individual’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom. The amendment follows Marylanders’ vote for a ballot initiative in November to enshrine abortion rights in the state.
- Michigan – Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed 16 bills that will expand reproductive freedom in the state, including a bill that allows pharmacists to directly prescribe and dispense contraceptives to patients. These efforts follow an announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services that the state continues to offer free contraception supplies through the Take Control of Your Birth Control program and has shipped 34,300 doses of emergency contraceptive, 34,300 doses of oral birth control pills and 171,500 condoms to date.
- Minnesota – MNsure, the state’s official health insurance Marketplace, announced that over 167,000 Minnesotans signed up for 2025 health plans through the Marketplace, a 14% increase over last year.
- New Jersey – Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order No. 377, directing the Office of Health Care Affordability and Transparency to be reestablished within the Department of Health, and transitioning leadership of the Health Care Affordability, Responsibility, and Transparency (HART) Program from the Department of Banking and Insurance to the Department of Health. The goal of the move is to support sustainable and continued implementation of the administration’s consumer-focused healthcare affordability work.
- New York – NY State of Health (NYSOH), the state’s official health insurance Marketplace, released the 2024 Health Insurance Coverage Update, a detailed summary of NYSOH enrollment, including demographics, quality measures, a summary of unwinding activities, and an update on the first year of implementation of New York’s section 1332 state innovation waiver. The report highlights that as of September 2024, NYSOH enrollment is nearly 6.7 million, or more than one in three New Yorkers across the state.
- Pennsylvania – Pennie, the state’s official health insurance Marketplace, concluded its 2025 open enrollment period with a record-breaking enrollment of 496,661, marking the largest Marketplace enrollment ever in the state.
- Tennessee – The University of Tennessee released its 2024 annual survey, The Impact of TennCare: A Survey of Recipients, which shows a record-high 96% satisfaction rate among families using TennCare for their children.
- Washington – The Washington Health Benefit Exchange announced that for the first time, enrollment in Marketplace plans through the state’s official health insurance Marketplace exceeded 300,000. This preliminary number includes people renewing their coverage and nearly 50,000 new enrollees.