Obamacare’s 24.2 Million Enrollment Breaks Record As Biden Exits

The Biden administration announced Friday that a record 24.2 million Americans enrolled in individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said 24.2 million selected plans through the individual-market marketplace, also known as Obamacare, for plan year 2025 coverage. Last year, more than 21 million people signed up for coverage for 2024, setting a record.

“The number of people signing up for Marketplace coverage has surpassed 24 million, an all-time high, breaking last year’s record,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said of the enrollment, which included 3.9 million new consumers. “Since the law was enacted, 50 million people — or one in seven Americans — have signed up for coverage through the Marketplace.”

Whether such momentum continues after this year is uncertain. When Donald Trump — who was elected in November in the presidential race against Vice President Kamala Harris — was in office from 2017 to 2021, he and Republicans in Congress tried and failed several times to repeal the ACA, the signature legislative achievement of former President Barack Obama.

It remains unclear what Trump’s healthcare agenda will be in his second term, which begins Monday, because he has yet to reveal a healthcare plan.

Obamacare has come a long way, with millions of Americans gaining such coverage in part due to expanding subsidies that allow more people to afford health insurance. That has also helped an array of health insurers including Centene, Cigna, Oscar Health, UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare and an array of Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans to grow their individual coverage portfolios.

Now, Congress must do its job so those millions of Americans remain covered. The tax credit that has helped people purchase coverage will expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress makes it permanent or extends it,” Becerra said. “Congressional inaction would result in costs going up. More than five million people could lose their coverage entirely, and millions of other hard-working Americans could face premium increases of more than 50%. The Affordable Care Act belongs to the American people. Let’s keep it that way.”

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