Jan. 29 (UPI) — Enrollments in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans for individuals are down by 1.2 million after 23 million bought coverage during the open enrollment period that ended on Jan. 15.
The number of enrollees is down from the 24.2 million who signed up during the open enrollment period in late 2024 and early 2025, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The drop in ACA enrollments is attributed to the end of temporary subsidies that expired on Jan. 1, but lawmakers are debating a potential extension after rates rose significantly, including some that doubled and tripled after the expiration of a temporary subsidy.
The subsidy expired at the end of 2025 and was the focal point of the record 43-day federal government shutdown that started on Oct. 1, which is when the 2026 fiscal year started.
Federal lawmakers have debated a measure to extend the subsidies and likely reopen the now-closed enrollment period, which would spur more people to sign up and could lead to numbers that exceed last year’s total signups.
The CMMS reported 19.59 million returning policyholders this year and 3.38 million new ones, for a total of 22.97 million individual health insurance policies bought through ACA and state marketplaces.
Residents in 30 states bought their policies through the ACA marketplace, while the remaining health insurance policies were sold through respective exchanges in 20 states.
Among state exchanges, 7.2 million policies were sold, with 6.34 million going to returning customers and 864,572 to new customers.
