Early 2023 Affordable Care Act Marketplace Enrollment Exceeds 2022 Trends

Since enrollment season began on November 1, the number of signups on the Affordable Care Act marketplace for the 2023 plan year has significantly outpaced the enrollment levels from the same timeframe in 2021, the Biden administration announced ahead of the open enrollment data report’s release.

Compared to the first month of enrollment in 2021, November 2022 boasted a 40 percent increase in Affordable Care Act marketplace signups for plan year 2023.

“We are off to a strong start—and we will not rest until we can connect everyone possible to health care coverage this enrollment season. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic action to expand access to health care, and ensure everyone can have the peace of mind that comes with being insured,” US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the press release.

Secretary Becerra said that four out of five Americans can find healthcare coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace for a premium of $10 per month or less. The Secretary urged consumers to explore their options on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

This comparison is particularly significant because in 2021, Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollment exceeded previous records. With the 2023 enrollment season already outperforming 2021 trends, the Affordable Care Act marketplace may be on track for another record-breaking year.

On November 15, 2021, the first week of the Affordable Care Act marketplace’s open enrollment season, CMS officials reported that nearly 774,000 plan selections had occurred on the federal health insurance marketplace, representing 1.2 million covered Americans. Approximately 17 percent of those plan selections were new enrollees.

State-based marketplaces also saw significant enrollment in 2022. Separate research found that outreach played a big role in bumping state-based marketplace enrollment, with states employing various outreach methods to improve health plan enrollment and lower uninsurance.

Changes that the Biden administration made to the Affordable Care Act marketplace in 2022 may play a role in driving momentum during the 2023 enrollment season. In mid-October 2022, the Treasury Department finalized a proposed rule from the Biden administration which would allow families to use premium tax credits to access Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage if they lack access to affordable employer-sponsored health plans.

The motivation behind this move was the “family glitch”—families of certain income levels had no access to affordable employer-sponsored insurance but did not qualify for Affordable Care Act marketplace subsidies.

Experts anticipated that resolving the family glitch would result in lower premium costs. If so, this might drive enrollment levels higher by attracting a higher number of potential enrollees.

HHS will release a fuller overview of the enrollment trends on November 22, 2022. The Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollment season for 2023 closes on December 15, 2022.