The Biden administration says 20 million people have enrolled for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, with still a few days left for signing up

Some 20 million people have signed up for health insurance this year through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, a record-breaking figure.

President Joe Biden will likely proclaim those results regularly on the campaign trail for months to come as former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, vows to dismantle the Obama-era program.

The Biden administration announced Wednesday morning that 20 million have enrolled for coverage on the marketplace, days before the open enrollment period is set to close on Jan. 16.

The latest enrollment projections mean a quarter more Americans have signed up for coverage this year compared to last — another record-breaking year when 16.3 million enrolled in the program. Signs-ups spiked after Biden took office, with Democrats rolling out a series of tax breaks that give millions of Americans access to low cost plans, some with zero-dollar premiums.

  • doingless@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    That’s not really a good sign for the economy. It means the marketplace is a valid option today. It was a pretty awful option in the past. But it means our broken system of relying on companies to provide health insurance is still broken. Companies aren’t taking care of people. Medicare for all! (why couldn’t Obama Dems have just done that instead?)

    • cyd@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Companies provide healthcare in the vast majority of countries with universal healthcare, including in Europe. Government provision of healthcare is really only a thing in the UK, and the NHS’s current struggles show that such a model isn’t necessarily faultless in practice.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      Because they would have had just as little chance of passing it as the Clintons did in the early 90s. Worse, because of the racists in the GOP.

      • doingless@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        That’s completely bullshit. The ACA was passed with zero R votes. They didn’t do better because they didn’t have the votes from fucking Democrats.

        • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who caucused with Dems, was the 60th vote for the ACA. He killed the single payer portion of the bill, because his state has several insurance companies HQ there and he wanted the payola.

          During debate on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as the crucial 60th vote needed to pass the legislation, his opposition to the public health insurance option was critical to its removal from the resulting bill signed by President Barack Obama.[7]

        • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          In order to get passed with zero Republican votes, it first had to get to a vote. Republicans never let universal healthcare get out of committee and to the floor.

          • doingless@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Even then there was talk that they didn’t have the D votes to pass it. Nowhere near. I guess the world is changing though, healthcare is such a shit show currently that a bunch of my Republican friends and family support Medicare for all now.