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The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has announced a special Marketplace enrollment period for millions of Americans at risk of losing Medicaid this year when pandemic-era coverage protections end in April.
During the temporary enrollment period set for March 31, 2023 – July 31, 2024, people who lose Medicaid coverage can apply for Obamacare outside the standard enrollment period at healthcare.gov.
At the start of the pandemic, Congress enacted measures requiring Medicaid programs to keep people continuously enrolled during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) in exchange for enhanced federal funding.
The lawmakers enacted a federal spending bill in December that decoupled Medicaid coverage protections from PHE, paving the way for states to resume disenrollments beginning in April.
According to HHS, 15M Americans will lose Medicaid once the continuous enrollment provision ends, leading an estimated 8M to pick other forms of coverage such as Marketplace coverage.
ACA marketplaces were established following the passage of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, in 2010.
Health insurers UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH), CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), Centene Corp. (NYSE:CNC), Cigna (NYSE:CI), and Elevance (NYSE:ELV) have ACA operations.
During the standard enrollment period for 2023, 16.3M Americans have signed up for healthcare plans in health insurance exchanges, the Biden administration announced last week.
