A total of 16.3 million Americans have sought health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this year, double the number when the law was introduced nearly a decade ago, the Biden Administration announced Wednesday. .
More than three million new members have joined the system, also known as ‘Obamacare,’ according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said the US government worked with nonprofit organizations and invested in program specialists who helped enroll people from low-income communities, immigrants, blacks and Latinas.
“We have made unprecedented investments to expand our enrollment organization’s footprint in nearly every county in the country and target the hardest-to-reach communities,” he said.
The increase in enrollment comes as the number of uninsured is at its lowest point: only 8% of people in the United States remain uninsured.
US President Joe Biden and a Democratic-led Congress have provided millions of dollars over the past two years to unlock low-cost insurance plans for more people and bar states from kicking people out of Medicaid during the pandemic.
The market itself has also evolved in recent years, with more insurers joining, giving the overwhelming majority of Americans at least three plans to consider when signing up.
The coverage cutoffs have been extended through 2025 under a key climate and health care bill championed by Democrats last year.
Some of that progress is in jeopardy this year, as millions of people are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage starting this spring, when states will begin the process of weeding out people who are no longer eligible, in many cases because your income is now too high to qualify.
Some of those who will lose Medicaid are expected to transition to the marketplace; and the government has said it is spending $12 million (about 11 million euros) to hire information specialists, in the coming months, to help people sign up for the health law market if they lose coverage.
Source: TSF
