Enrollment in the ACA hits new record as Trump promises repeal

The Biden administration touted a record 21+ million people have enrolled in health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, a surge that follows renewed vows from Republican candidate Donald Trump to repeal the ACA if elected this November.

The enrollment numbers show an increase in sign-ups of around 80% for the ACA since President Biden took office in 2021, and an increase of 5 million enrollees since last year, according to the Washington Post.

Polling by KFF also shows that over half of adults in the US have a “favorable view” of the ACA, following Medicaid expansions and increasingly affordable health plans under the Biden administration.

Though popular among the people, the ACA has long been a contentious issue among Republicans, who campaigned to repeal it following its initial 2010 passage and rode the controversy into capturing the House of Representatives that same year.

During his presidency, Trump repeatedly tried to repeal the ACA, promising a revamp of the healthcare system. And now, despite still not having a new healthcare proposal, Trump is renewing his attacks on the ACA as he leads in the Republican presidential nomination.

“I don’t want to terminate Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE. Obamacare Sucks!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the Trump-backed social media platform, in November 2023.

Enrollment in the ACA has also grown in response to states cutting down their pandemic-era Medicaid plans, which left about 12 million people disenrolled from the government health program in 2023, according to trackers from KFF and the Georgetown Center For Children and Families.

The number of sign-ups for the 2024 plan year marks a “record high.”

“The American people have made it clear: They don’t want the ACA weakened and repealed,” Biden said in a statement. “They want it strengthened and protected.”