New national data released today show that there has been a sharp increase in Medicaid enrollment since last September, and that trend continued in April. The new figures, which are from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, provide the enrollment change by state in April and also the amount of growth relative to the average participation level in each state from July through September 2013.

Not surprisingly, the increases have been much higher in the 25 states that have accepted federal funds to expand Medicaid eligibility for adults to 133% of the federal poverty level. Wisconsin has had far less growth than those states and – more surprisingly – a much smaller growth rate than most of the “non-expansion” states, which have rejected the federal funding. More specifically, the new figures reveal the following:

• 6 million more people were enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in April, relative to the period before the initial open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act started.
• That includes growth of 1.1 million additional people in April, as compared to March (in the 48 states that reported data for both months).
• Enrollment was up by 15.3% in the expansion states in April, compared to the average enrollment from July through Sept. 2013.
• The increase was just 3.3% in the non-expansion states during that same time period.
• Wisconsin’s increase of 1.1% (12,300 people) over the past 7 months was well below the average in the other states that rejected the federal funding for expanding Medicaid.

In contrast to other “non-expansion” states, Wisconsin has expanded coverage up to 100% of the poverty level for adults who don’t have dependent children. However, the growth in coverage of more than 79,000 additional childless adults (relative to Sept. 2013) is largely offset by a drop in coverage of parents over the poverty level, which is off by nearly 70,000 since September.

I think the more significant difference between Wisconsin and the other “non-expansion” states is something that might not be obvious from the federal data – the change in the number of already-eligible children and parents who are covered. In contrast to the majority of states, where enrollment of kids has increased since September of last year, at the end of April there were 4,949 fewer children participating in BadgerCare than in September 2013 (based on my analysis of DHS data).

Later this month, I’ll take a much closer look at the complicated trends in Wisconsin among already eligible children and parents.

Although the open enrollment period has ended for the federal Health Insurance Marketplace, consumers may apply for Medicaid and CHIP coverage year round. People are eligible for coverage at any time if they qualify.

You can read today’s report here.