Obamacare Enrollment Set To Break Another Record This Year

Already at record enrollment of more than 16 million, even more Americans are expected to sign up for individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare for 2024, according to a new analysis.

KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, says myriad forces are coming together that will boost enrollment, including more Americans finding out they are eligible for federal subsidies that make coverage more affordable.

The health insurance market is also more stable with health insurers including Cigna, Centene and array of Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans maintain their presence in most markets while some are entering new markets like Oscar Health, which disclosed last month it was expanding offerings into rural areas. Open enrollment begins Nov. 1 for coverage that starts January 1, 2024.

“The upcoming open enrollment period could be among the busiest yet,” KFF said in its report. “In addition to Marketplace enrollees renewing coverage, uninsured people and those buying individual coverage off-Marketplace – as well as those losing Medicaid coverage as the pandemic-era continuous enrollment provision unwinds – may want to check if they are eligible for expanded subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act.”

To be sure, the U.S. public health emergency kept record numbers of people covered by not kicking anyone off Medicaid for poor Americans, but that is slowly beginning to change. The public health emergency ended in May so some states are beginning Medicaid redetermination, also described as Medicaid renewal or Medicaid recertification, which is essentially when people are asked to show they are qualified for such coverage.

During the Medicaid redetermination process, hundreds of thousands of Americans are finding out they are instead eligible for commercial Obamacare coverage under the ACA.

The KFF report comes with marketplace enrollment at an all-time high. The Biden administration said earlier this that a record of more than 16 million Americans signed up for 2023 healthcare coverage that began Jan. 1, 2023 via the more than 30 states that use the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace and 18 state-based marketplaces.

But enrollment in the individual market is actually higher when those who purchased “off-marketplace” plans are included. Thus, overall individual market enrollment was up to 18.2 million earlier this year, KFF said.

“Now, with enhanced subsidies in place, the vast majority of people buying individual market coverage are subsidized,” KFF said in its report. “The Inflation Reduction Act continues the ARPA subsidies without interruption for another three years through 2025.”