Since Congress let Obamacare subsidies expire, millions are dropping coverage

Millions of Americans appear to be dropping Obamacare coverage in the months since Congress failed to extend the generous subsidies that had become a defining feature of the Affordable Care Act.

Initial sign-ups had already fallen by about 1.2 million people. But insurance companies, state officials and industry analysts are reporting that many more have lost Obamacare coverage now that people are facing long-term higher costs. The federal government has yet to report current enrollment data.

Many insurers and analysts are estimating overall declines of about 20%, dropping to around 19 million from the 24 million who were covered under the ACA last year. Other indications suggest there could be even larger potential losses by the end of the year, a deep retrenchment for Obamacare coverage and a reversal of significant gains in the last several years.

The rising cost of healthcare has shown up as a top concern among Americans in several public opinion polls. Premiums are rising for Americans who get insurance through work, too, as healthcare costs have been increasing nationwide. Out-of-pocket costs are growing too, as plans with high deductibles have become popular.

Though healthcare has faded somewhat as a priority for the Republican-controlled Congress since lawmakers hit a stalemate over the subsidies at the end of 2025, it is likely to figure prominently in the midterm elections this year.

One analysis, by Wakely Consulting Group, a firm with access to detailed insurance industry data, estimates that coverage in the marketplaces will drop by as much as 26% this year compared with last year's average enrollment.

In Georgia, where coverage had nearly tripled since Congress first authorized the extra financial help in 2021, state data show enrollment has fallen by more than a third, according to information obtained by the news organizations The Current GA and The Georgia Recorder.

The Georgia state insurance department did not respond to a request for comment.

Some Blue Cross plans lost 20% to 30% of customers this year. And many people are switching to plans with lower premiums but much higher out-of-pocket costs, said David Merritt, a spokesperson for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. "We are waiting on official data like everyone else," he said.

The insurers and state officials said early retirees with middle-class incomes, who faced the largest increases in premiums, appeared to be among the hardest hit. In some markets, the cost of insurance for this group rose by $1,000 a month or more.

In many states, around 10% of people who are still insured have chosen less generous coverage by picking so-called bronze plans, which carry deductibles as high as $10,600 a year.

The Trump administration has downplayed the losses. Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the marketplaces, have characterized the current enrollment as a success. "The marketplace remains strong and resilient, continuing to provide millions of Americans with access to high-quality, affordable healthcare coverage options," said Chris Krepich, the agency's director of communications.

In testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce last month, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the nation's health secretary, attributed the initial reductions to an administration crackdown on fraud.

Kennedy also emphasized the low cost of much of the insurance for most people who are buying it. He said 87% of people enrolled in Obamacare in January owed less than $96 a month, numbers contained in a federal report in March.

But a swath of Americans are paying much more. The escalating cost of insurance - and the expected coverage losses - was a major Democratic theme this winter, and Democratic lawmakers' effort to extend the financing was a central demand during the record 43-day government shutdown.

Many consumers are still eligible for financial help to buy Obamacare. But additional money Congress authorized in 2021, which expired this year, lowered the costs for nearly all who bought their own insurance. The subsidies made insurance free for the lowest-income customers, and provided new assistance to those who earned more than around $63,000 a year.

Costs of a typical plan have changed for people who now earn just too much to qualify for subsidies. The increase depends on customers' age and where they live.

When Joyce Rena Bumbray-Graves, 63, a home care worker from Woodbridge, Virginia, saw premiums for her husband and herself more than double, from $544 a month to over $1,300, she had to give up her insurance. Bumbray-Graves, a member of the Service Employees International Union, recently appeared before Congress to talk about her experience.

Her husband switched to coverage through his job, but adding her was too expensive. She says she is relatively healthy, although she is struggling to pay for prescriptions and doctors' visits. "I'm just hoping I don't get sick or anything," she said in an interview.

Megan Burkett, 49, a nurse practitioner in Arroyo Grande, California, dropped coverage for herself, her husband and her son in the face of escalating costs. She is working three part-time jobs, none of which offer health insurance. Her husband, a contractor, is self-employed and also does not have coverage from work. When she went to sign up for ACA coverage for this year, she found the policy for her family would cost roughly $2,500 a month, in line with her mortgage payment. That contrasts with the $307 a month she paid when she qualified for a federal subsidy last year.

"On paper, I have a really good job and salary," Burkett said. "I can't afford a second mortgage every month."

Jessica Altman, who runs the Covered California marketplace, said she had seen real declines in enrollment among customers with incomes like Burkett's. The state is offering extra subsidies to help poorer residents, but not this higher income group.

"I'm not surprised," she said, about the numbers. "It doesn't make it any less sad to see."

Estimates provided earlier this year about enrollment declines were incomplete. Customers who were automatically renewed into insurance are given a 90-day grace period before they lose coverage for failing to pay their premiums. Now that those 90 days have run out in most states, another large group of Americans who have lost coverage is becoming evident.

The federal government has not reported any complete data on nationwide enrollment since that grace period ended. In a normal year, the next such report would be published in July. But reports from states that run their own marketplaces are already showing larger declines. Even among those states, the impact of the lost funding has been uneven.

Some states have reported increased coverage, but those outliers are places where state programs are making up the lost federal financing or where unemployment has increased and more people need to buy their own coverage. New Mexico, which passed legislation to pay extra insurance subsidies to replace the lost federal payments, has been a particular bright spot for enrollment. Marketplace coverage has also increased in Washington, D.C., where around 220,000 federal workers lost their jobs last year.

Insurers have begun reporting enrollment declines in their quarterly earnings reports. Centene, which offers marketplace coverage in 29 states, told investors this week that it had 2 million fewer customers at the end of March than it did a year ago, a drop of more than a third. Other insurers, including UnitedHealth, also reported significant drops. Some of those declines could come from customers switching carriers. Cigna, a smaller player, announced Thursday that it would leave the market altogether next year.

A recent survey by KFF, the health research firm, found that 22% of people who had marketplace coverage last year had found another source of health insurance. Nine percent had become uninsured.

Coverage could continue to erode throughout the year. Some people who are paying premiums now may stop if they encounter financial difficulties. Others who might qualify for coverage midyear, by losing a job or getting married, for example, may decide against it. Movement in and out of the marketplaces happens every year, but some analysts worry there may be more attrition than usual with the higher prices.

"I think we haven't seen the full impact of all of these changes," said Hemi Tewarson, the executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, which recently convened a meeting of state marketplace leaders.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.