The Biden administration announced Wednesday that 16.3M Americans have signed up for healthcare plans in health insurance exchanges during the 2023 enrollment period, the highest since the Affordable Care Act was signed 13 years ago.
That indicates a 12% growth from 2022, when ACA marketplaces added more than 14.5M people, indicating a 21% rise from the prior year.
The ACA marketplaces were established following the passage of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Open Enrollment Periods (OEP) for many marketplaces started on Nov. 01 and ended on Jan. 15 for those using the HealthCare.gov platform. Some state-based Marketplaces could have enrollment periods longer than the HealthCare.gov deadlines.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said that 12.2M people used the HealthCare.gov platform to sign up for 2023 plans, while 18 State-based Marketplaces (SBMs), whose OEPs ended on Jan. 15, added 4.1M Americans in 17 states.
3.6M, or 22% of total enrollments, were new to the exchanges, and the rest already had 2022 coverage and chose exchanges to select a plan or were automatically added.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. ( NYSE: UHS ), CVS Health ( NYSE: CVS ), Centene Corp. ( NYSE: CNC ), Cigna ( NYSE: CI ), and Elevance ( NYSE: ELV ) are among some of the health insurers with operations targeting ACA plans.
The Inflation Reduction Act, introduced in August, incentivized those buying their health plans on the ACA Marketplaces, offering a three-year extension for enhanced subsidies first adopted under the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021.
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Obamacare enrollments hit the highest ever level