WASHINGTON (AP) — About 20 million people are buying health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace this year, a record number.
President Joe Biden is likely to announce these results regularly during his campaign in the coming months, as former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, vows to dismantle Obama-era policies.
The Biden administration announced Wednesday morning that 20 million people have signed up for insurance on the Marketplace, days before the open enrollment period ends on Jan. 16.
The latest enrollment projections mean more than a quarter more Americans are insured this year compared to last year, another record year. 16.3 million people enrolled in the program. After Biden took office, Democrats rolled out a series of policies that led to a sharp increase in the number of signatures. tax reduction This gives millions of Americans access to low-cost plans, some with zero dollar premiums.
“We must build on this progress and make lower health care costs permanent,” Biden said in a statement. “But extreme Republicans have blocked these efforts at every turn.”
The country's top health official acknowledged on Wednesday that an aggressive campaign to get people to sign up had increased interest in the report. The administration has been working with nonprofits across the country, primarily in Black and Latino communities. like south florida, to bring new people into coverage.The administration invested millions more in jobs. navigator The program was abolished during the tenure of President Donald Trump, a longtime critic of so-called “Obamacare.”
“The previous administration made no effort to let people know what they were getting,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in an interview on MSNBC. morning joe” “We are there, we are not waiting for them to come to us. We will go to them.”
But the news of enrollment growth that the Biden administration celebrated Wednesday did not come without a price. Some of the millions of new enrollees simply turned to the market because they were taken out of Medicaid, the nearly free health insurance provided to the poorest and disabled Americans. Health plans purchased through the Marketplace have higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs for services.
almost 14.5 million Americans They were recently removed from Medicaid after the federal government lifted a three-year ban on states removing ineligible people from government-sponsored health insurance. States began removing millions of people from Medicaid last year. Process plagued by errors it's gone thousands of In some states, children and pregnant women who mistakenly do not have health insurance are dying.
Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Trump has regularly threatened to undo the Biden administration's efforts on former President Barack Obama's landmark health care law.
“Obamacare is a disaster. Nobody talks about it,” President Trump said at a rally in Iowa on Saturday.The former president continued: Criticizes late Republican Sen. John McCain (Arizona) For blocking Republican efforts to destroy the law more than five years ago.
even though it's open Registration Health insurance plans purchased under the Affordable Care Act will end on January 16, but those excluded from Medicaid may be eligible until the end of July.
