Beginning Friday, customers have until Dec. 15 to enroll to have coverage starting on Jan. 1, 2025. Open enrollment ends on Jan. 15.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, is once again a major election issue. This week, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) promised a massive overhaul of the law if former President Trump and Republicans win the election.
For the past three years, ACA enrollment has reached consecutive record levels, contributing to a historically low rate of Americans being uninsured. Much of this has been credited to the subsidies first passed by the American Rescue Plan Act and extended through the Inflation Reduction Act.
The subsidies contributed to lower premiums and deductibles, enabling more people to afford health insurance. Both President Biden and Vice President Harris have called for these subsidies to be made permanent, but that would cost more than $300 billion over the next 10 years, and Republicans have balked at the price tag.
With only days to go before Election Day, the Trump campaign has yet to present a plan for replacing ObamaCare, a conundrum that plagued former President Trump throughout his first term.
Trump has said only that he has “concepts of a plan” to change the law and has recently tried to rewrite his history on attempts to repeal it.
This year, a new rule also extends the law’s health coverage to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Under the rule, active recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will be eligible to enroll in a taxpayer-subsidized health plan under the ACA.
