Obamacare sign-ups top 1 million during special enrollment period for COVID-19

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Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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WASHINGTON – More than 1 million Americans signed up for health insurance during the ongoing special enrollment period for HealthCare.gov, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.

That's on top of the approximately 12 million who selected 2021 coverage during the regular enrollment period that ended in December in most states.

That level of expansion could have a meaningful effect on the uninsured rate and could help President Joe Biden build support for the permanent changes he hopes to make to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.

"Today’s milestone demonstrates that there is a need and a demand for high quality, affordable health insurance across this country," Biden said in a statement.

Biden created a special enrollment period that runs from Feb. 15 through Aug. 15 to help people find coverage during the pandemic, an effort boosted by expanded premium subsides included in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief packaged passed in March.

Related: Joe Biden looks to sell child care, education plan with state-specific pitches

The package increased for two years the subsidies already available to people who don't receive health insurance from an employer or through a government plan like Medicare or Medicaid. And it made the subsidies newly available for people earning more than four times the federal poverty level, which is about $51,520 for a single person.

After the changes kicked in, the median deductible among people signing up for plans fell from $450 to $50.

Biden has proposed making the expanded subsidies permanent as part of $1.8 trillion package of education and safety net programs for families.

The administration had declined to estimate how many people would take advantage of the special enrollment period when announcing the effort to give a new coverage opportunity to Americans who lost their jobs and employer-based insurance during the pandemic.

The administration also dramatically increased spending on education and outreach, which had been slashed by the previous administration.

Biden said his actions were designed to “undo the damage" done by former President Donald Trump to the Affordable Care Act, which Trump tried — and failed — to repeal.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Obamacare sign-ups top 1M during special COVID-19 enrollment period

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