ACA health insurance enrollment approaching 15.9M people

A total of 15.87 million people will have health insurance provided through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

Enrollment continues through Jan. 15 and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a national snapshot of sign-up figures. The enrollment so far represented a 13% increase from 2022, according to CMS and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

By Jan. 7, there were 11.9 million plan selections in 33 marketplaces using the HealthCare.gov website the 2023 plan year. By Dec. 31, 2022, another 4 million plans were picked through 18 state-based marketplaces in 17 states and Washington, D.C., using their own eligibility and enrollment websites known as state-based marketplaces (SMDs), according to CMS.

Among the enrollees, 3.09 million consumers, or 20%, were new to the national marketplaces, and 12.77 million, or 80%, had active coverage for 2022 and selected a new plan for 2023, or were automatically reenrolled.

Among the top 10 states for enrollment, all used healthcare.gov except for California and New Jersey, which used SBMs. They were:

• Florida, 3.15 million
• Texas, 2.32 million
• California, 1.7 million
• Georgia, 846,848
• North Carolina, 781,826
• South Carolina, 371,207
• Virginia, 338,342
• Tennessee, 335,525
• Illinois, 332,460
• New Jersey, 321,252

In a statement, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, supported by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, allowed four out of five ACA enrollees to find coverage for $10 or less through use of tax credits.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has made expanding access to health insurance a key priority, and we are thrilled to see so many Americans enrolling in Affordable Care Act plans this year,” Becerra said in the statement.

For the start of 2023, the White House said the national uninsured rate was at 8%, a record low. Nonetheless, researchers have examined effects of inflation on health care in the United States and across the globe and, nationally, there are continuing concerns about health care access and costs.

Final figures for the 2023 enrollment should come out soon. The deadline to sign up is Jan. 15 for coverage to start Feb. 1.