ACA hits record enrollment days ahead of sign-up deadline

With about a week left to go before the enrollment deadline, nearly 24 million consumers selected health coverage in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced. This marks the fourth consecutive year of record ACA enrollment.

CMS reports that 23.6 million consumers – including 3.2 million new consumers - selected plan year 2025 coverage through the marketplaces since the start of the 2025 marketplace open enrollment. That represents 11.6 million more enrollees compared to the 2021 open enrollment period.

During last year’s record-setting open enrollment period, 21.4 million people selected coverage through the marketplaces, driving the uninsured rate to a historic low, where it remains today. More than 20.4 million consumers had active 2024 coverage and selected a plan for 2025 coverage or were automatically re-enrolled.

Marketplace open enrollment on HealthCare.gov runs through Jan. 15. Consumers who enroll by midnight local time on Jan. 15 (no later than 5 a.m. ET on Jan.16) can get coverage that starts Feb. 1. State-based marketplace enrollment deadlines vary. State-specific deadlines and other information are available in the State-based Marketplace Open Enrollment Fact Sheet.

The past four years of record-breaking enrollment have been credited to enhanced subsidies first passed by the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extended by the Inflation Reduction Act through the end of 2025.

In a statement issued today, President Jo Biden urged Congress to “double down on the progress we have made and ensure Americans have access to quality, affordable health care by extending the ACA premium tax credit this year.”

The subsidies have helped to expand ACA enrollment but presented a dilemma in Congress. The enhanced subsidies are due to expire this year unless Congress acts. The Congressional Budget Office projected that allowing the subsidies to expire in 2025 would result in the uninsured rate rising by an average of 3.8 million people between 2026 and 2034  But the CBO has also previously projected it would cost $335 billion over 10 years to make the enhanced subsidies permanent.

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