Why It Matters: The Affordable Care Act expands its reach.
Despite a recent warning from former President Donald J. Trump, the front-runner in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, that he is “seriously looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act, the latest surge in marketplace enrollment is a testament. to the eternal power of the law.
Legislation passed ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic increased federal subsidies for people buying plans, lowering costs for many Americans. The Biden administration also extended the sign-up period and increased advertising for the program and funding for so-called navigators who help people enroll.
“More and more people are realizing that they can go to the marketplace,” said Cynthia Cox, the director of the Affordable Care Act Program at KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group.
He added: “Just because the ACA has been around for a while doesn’t mean people who need to sign up for it know how to do that.”
One Eye-Popping Statistic: 750,000 sign-ups in one day.
On Dec. 15 — the last day to sign up for coverage that begins Jan. 1 — nearly 750,000 people opted for a marketplace plan on HealthCare.gov. This is the largest single day total.
Dr. Benjamin Sommers, a health economist at Harvard who served in the Biden administration, said improved outreach helped explain the record sign-ups. “I was pleasantly surprised,” he said.
In years of increased subsidies, he added, “this could be the natural growth rate for several years in a new policy environment.”
Kody Kinsley, North Carolina’s top health official, said his state has been creative by using its efforts to expand Medicaid to also sign people up for marketplace plans.
“We had a very broad educational and outreach campaign – with civic organizations, churches, navigators – built around the expansion to educate people about eligibility,” he said in a text message.
He added: “As part of that, we’re supporting people to get coverage in the marketplace, if they’re not eligible” for Medicaid.
What’s Next: Sign-ups will continue for about a month.
The open enrollment period on Healthcare.gov runs through mid-January, ending at 5 a.m. Eastern time on January 17. People who enroll then will have coverage starting in February.
Biden administration officials said they encourage enrollees already covered through HealthCare.gov to continue shopping for plans, in case a new option turns out to be better and more affordable.
Affordable Care Act marketplaces have become particularly important to people losing Medicaid coverage this year after a federal policy that guaranteed coverage earlier in the pandemic passed in April.
Millions of people declining Medicaid rolls has contributed to increased enrollment in the marketplace, said Ms. Cox, and in surges during normal sleepier periods outside of open enrollment. (Certainly life events(like the sudden loss of other health coverage, some Americans are allowed to get new plans outside of the open enrollment period.)
According to federal health officials, from March to September enrollment in marketplace plans increased by 1.6 million people, or 1.5 million more than the same period last year.
