A record 19 million Americans are expected to purchase individual coverage, also known as Obamacare, via the health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act for the 2024 coverage year.
The Biden administration Wednesday said more than 15.3 million Americans have already have signed up for health insurance marketplace plans in states that use HealthCare.gov, which is a 33% increase compared to this time a year ago.
“As of December 15, 2023, for HealthCare.gov states and December 9, 2023, for State-based Marketplaces, preliminary data projects that over 19 million consumers will enroll in 2024 coverage through the ACA Marketplaces — over 7 million more than when President Biden took office,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Wednesday. “This includes 15.3 million individuals who have selected a health plan using the HealthCare.gov platform. On December 15 alone, the deadline for coverage starting January 1, 2024, more than 745,000 people selected a Marketplace plan through HealthCare.gov — the largest single day in history.”
The record enrollment comes with such coverage becoming integral to Americans, having been offered on exchanges now for a decade with most of the enrollment coming from those renewing coverage year after year.
Yeah, this is a little like going “underemployment hit record highs” and treating it like a celebration. It’s great the program exists, but the fact that it needs to exist is utterly fucked. We shouldn’t be treating this as a win. It’s a sign that things are really fucking dire. They’re celebrating the fact that people are being forced to use an ultra expensive safety net, instead of just fixing the system that necessitates the need for the safety net in the first place.
Imagine a headline that said “Food Bank Usage Sets Another Record Even As Trump Threatens The Law Yet Again” instead, because it’s essentially the same thing in a different wrapper. It’s great the program exists as a stopgap, but holy shit this is bad news. This is some straight up Orphan Crushing Machine stuff.