The Biden administration on Wednesday said over 21 million people selected an Obamacare plan during the 2024 enrollment period, shattering last year’s record of 16 million.
President Biden used the occasion to hammer Republicans over lingering plans to dismantle the health law. Former President Barack Obama and Democrats muscled the Affordable Care Act to passage in 2010 before shielding it through multiple court battles and bolstering it with taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Facing reelection, Mr. Biden sees a political opening as former President Donald Trump revives his pledge to replace the program with something better.
“My actions to protect the Affordable Care Act and lower premiums continue to make a big difference. And the American people have made it clear: They don’t want the Affordable Care Act weakened and repealed — they want it strengthened and protected,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.
The administration said 21.3 million people selected health coverage on the federal HealthCare.gov website or several web-based exchanges run by states. That’s up from the 16.3 million during the Nov. 1, 2022-Jan. 15, 2023, signup period.
Mr. Biden said all told, 9 million new customers have gained insurance through the program since he took office.
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“It’s no accident. My actions to protect the Affordable Care Act and lower premiums continue to make a big difference,” he said.
Obamacare is putting up bigger numbers after Mr. Biden and his Democratic allies made its income-based, taxpayer-funded subsidies more generous. The subsidies defray the cost of monthly premiums that customers pay after they select a private health care plan on one of Obamacare’s web platforms.
Mr. Biden’s COVID-relief package in early 2021 boosted subsidies across the board and lifted the income cap for those eligible to apply, offering financial help to higher earners if benchmark premiums exceeded 8.5% of their income.
The supersized subsidies were extended through 2025 in Mr. Biden’s signature tax-and-climate legislation in 2022, making the program more financially attractive to customers.
Mr. Trump, who is gliding toward the GOP presidential nomination, vowed last November to make replacing Obamacare a top priority for his administration if he wins the 2024 contest.
“It is not a matter of cost, it is a matter of HEALTH. America will have one of the best Healthcare Plans anywhere in the world. Right now it has one of the WORST!” he wrote on his social media platform.
Republicans say health reform should lower insurance costs rather than force taxpayers to chase rising premiums with subsidies. Yet the GOP is leery of taking another stab at replacing Obamacare after its efforts failed in spectacular fashion in 2017.
The Obamacare program has survived a number of challenges.
Its website crashed upon launch in late 2013 and enrollment was lower than expected, forcing healthier people in the individual market to pay more for coverage after a tide of sicker people signed up. People also lost bare-bones plans they had enjoyed, despite Mr. Obama’s promise they could keep them, because the law set new standards for coverage.
The law also survived three challenges before the Supreme Court and a GOP decision to zero out the individual mandate tax for failing to obtain coverage. The mandate was supposed to prod people into the program but didn’t work as planned.
Mr. Biden said the rest of the law is here to stay.
“We need to build on the progress we’ve made by making lower premiums permanent,” he said. “If the extreme Republicans in Congress get their way, millions of families would face skyrocketing health care costs or lose their health care altogether. I won’t let it happen on my watch, and I’ll keep fighting to bring down health care and prescription drug costs.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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