Dive Brief:
- Nearly 16 million people have signed up for health coverage through Affordable Care Act plans since open enrollment began Nov. 1, according to a release from the HHS.
- The number represents a 13% increase over last year’s open enrollment period, and includes over three million new marketplace enrollees.
- Extended ACA subsidies included in the Inflation Reduction Act helped drive signups, according to the HHS.
Dive Insight:
The American Rescue plan originally granted enhanced and expanded ACA subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep Americans insured during the public health crisis.
The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year extended subsidies into 2025, protecting millions of Americans from premium hikes expected at the end of last year.
The extensions came after the number of Americans with health insurance under Affordable Care Act provisions reached an all-time high of more than 35.8 million in early 2022, according to the HHS.
Ultimately, about 1.8 million more people signed up for marketplace plans this year compared to last year.
"We continue to see historic enrollment numbers due to increased financial assistance from the Inflation Reduction Act and new eligibility for families, but we're not done yet," CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in the release.
Some 20% of people signing up for ACA plans this year are new to the marketplaces, while 80% had active coverage in 2022 and made new plan selections or were automatically reenrolled, according to the release.
The agency quadrupled the number of navigators used to assist plan signups in addition to targeting its outreach to historically underinsured communities, according to the agency.
The enrollment comes as Medicaid enrollment is expected to drop due to the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. As many as 18 million enrollees have been projected to lose Medicaid coverage, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The current open enrollment period ends Sunday.