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North Carolina ended the Affordable Care Act insurance exchange’s open enrollment period with more than a half-million enrollees for coverage this year – still, the number represented a significant decrease from last year. The 549,158 who signed up for North Carolina exchange coverage by Jan. 31 represents a 10.5 percent drop from the 613,487 who enrolled during open enrollment in early 2016. (Hoban, 2/7)

The open enrollment period for Connecticut’s health insurance exchange ended with 111,524 people signed up for private health plans – approximately 4,500 fewer than last year. That’s a 3.9 percent drop in enrollment in individual-market insurance sold through Access Health CT, the marketplace created by the federal health law. (Levin Becker, 2/7)

A bill to shut down the state’s marketplace where people buy health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act passed its first committee vote Tuesday. Senate Bill 3 would push people and small businesses currently shopping for plans on Connect for Health Colorado to the federally run HealthCare.gov starting in 2018 — assuming there still is an Affordable Care Act then. The bill passed the state Senate Finance Committee on a 3-2 party-line vote, with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposed. (Ingold, 2/7)