Obamacare enrollment grows for third-straight year

WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — A record 21.3 million people have signed up for health care insurance through the HealthCare.gov Marketplace for 2024, marking a third consecutive banner year for the program.

The marketplace, created under the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — added 5 million more people than in 2023.

While most people had until Jan. 15 to sign up for coverage, those who were disenrolled from Medicaid during the unwinding that followed the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency have been given until July 31 to enroll.

Roughly 14.5 million Americans were kicked out of Medicaid when the federal government lifted a 3-year ban that barred states from removing ineligible people from government-sponsored health insurance. States began purging millions of people from Medicaid last year, during an error-plagued process that has left thousands of children and pregnant women erroneously without health insurance coverage in some states.

The enrollment announcement comes not long after former President Donald Trump said he was “seriously looking at alternatives” if he were to win a second term in 2024.

Trump’s comments were rebuked by Democratic President Joe Biden‘s campaign who rapidly moved to mobilize a response, including new advertising in battleground states contrasting Biden’s efforts to lower drug costs with Trump’s comments.

About 6 in 10 Americans say they have a favorable opinion of the health reform bill signed into law in 2010, known commonly as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, according to a KFF poll conducted in May 2023.

The Associated Press and NewsNation affiliate The Hill contributed to this report.