CMS released April enrollment numbers for Medicaid and CHIP, showing a net increase in enrollment of over 6 million people. The majority of new enrollees (84%) got coverage in the 26 states and D.C that have embraced the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid.

Even though Medicaid is open 24/7 year-round, the impact of outreach associated with Marketplace open enrollment is clearly seen in the latest report. New application volume was down 22% in April compared to March, the last month of open enrollment.

As we’ve noted before, CMS continues to work with the states to improve the quality of data that is reported. To that extent, the number of footnotes that detail caveats in the report is declining.

Still, we’d love to see more information, and children’s enrollment is, of course, is at the top of our list.

Additionally, as I noted in my what’s missing blog, we need more information to help assess how the renewal process is going. In the first year of renewing coverage using the new MAGI-based methods, states will need to collect additional information, which has many of us worried about the potential to lose ground in covering children and low-income families. States can still delay renewals until their systems are good to go, but even then, they will need to put more resources into assisting families through the process. Washington state discovered the challenges with this first round of renewals the hard way, but they stepped up their effort and demonstrated valuable lessons helpful to other states.

Setting my anxiety over renewals aside, it’s terrific to be getting routine enrollment information for all 50 states and D.C. We look forward to more and better data to help us assess the performance of our public coverage programs, and more importantly, identify opportunities to make them even better.