Fewer Americans enrolling in ACA marketplace plans, federal data shows

Fewer Americans are signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year, new federal data shows, as expiring subsidies and other factors push health expenses too high for many to manage (Source: “Fewer Americans sign up for Affordable Care Act health insurance as costs spike,” Associated Press, Jan. 13).
 
Nationally, around 800,000 fewer people have selected plans compared to a similar time last year, marking a 3.5% drop in total enrollment so far.
 
The new data released this week by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services only includes sign-ups through Jan. 3 in states (including Ohio) that use Healthcare.gov for ACA plans, and through Dec. 27 for states that have their own ACA marketplaces. In most states, the period for shopping for plans continues through this week for plans that start in February.
 
The CMS data shows that 463,086 Ohioans had enrolled in marketplace coverage as of Jan. 3. According to data included in HPIO’s recent policy explainer on changes to the federal health insurance marketplace, almost 600,000 Ohioans got health insurance through the ACA marketplace in 2025.