Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Over 200,000 Sign Up For ACA Plans As Biden's Moves Bolster Health Law
The New York Times: 11 Years On, The Affordable Care Act Defies Opponents And Keeps Expanding
More than 200,000 Americans flocked to the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplace to sign up for health insurance during the first two weeks of an open enrollment period created by President Biden — a sign that those who lost insurance during the pandemic remain in desperate need of coverage. At the same time, a provision in the president’s $1.9 trillion stimulus law to make Medicaid expansion more fiscally appealing has prompted deeply conservative Alabama and Wyoming to consider expanding the government health program to residents who are too rich to qualify now but too poor to afford private health plans. (Gay Stolberg, 3/23)
The Hill: Obamacare Draws 200,000 New Signups
From February 15 to 28, 206,236 Americans chose to enroll in new plan selections. The jump in prospective beneficiaries is further represented by a total of more than 3.1 million online HealthCare.gov users recorded during this timeframe. Some of the states that saw a high volume of enrollments in new plan selection include Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Iowa, Florida, and Georgia, although sharp increases were reported across each of the 36 states that use HealthCare.gov as a platform for the 2021 coverage year. This is part of a broader pattern than has continued since 2019. (Kelley, 3/22)
CNN: Biden's Moves On Obamacare Attract New Signups -- And A Second Look From Red States
President Joe Biden is wasting no time establishing his vision for the Affordable Care Act and reversing many Trump-era measures aimed at weakening it. In his first two months in office, Biden has taken several steps to bolster the landmark health reform law, which marks its 11th anniversary on Tuesday, and to embed it even more firmly in the nation's health care system. (Luhby, 3/22)
AP: Biden To Talk Up Health Insurance Cost Cuts In Visit To Ohio
President Joe Biden will showcase health insurance cost cuts in a speech in Ohio Tuesday during what may be the best time for Democrats to talk up the Affordable Care Act since it became law. Biden’s COVID-19 relief bill pumps up “Obamacare” premium subsidies to address longstanding problems of affordability, particularly for people with solid middle-class incomes. More taxpayer assistance means, in effect, that consumers who buy their own policies through HealthCare.gov will pay hundreds of dollars less out of their own pockets. (Jaffe and Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/23)
The Atlantic: Why Trump And Republicans Failed To Repeal Obamacare
The affordable care act, the health-care law also known as Obamacare, turns 11 years old this week. Somehow, the program has not merely survived the GOP’s decade-long assault. It’s actually getting stronger, thanks to some major upgrades tucked in the COVID-19 relief package that President Joe Biden signed into law earlier this month. ... And although the measures are temporary, Biden and his Democratic Party allies have pledged to pass more legislation making the changes permanent. The expansion measures are a remarkable achievement, all the more so because Obamacare’s very survival seemed so improbable just a few years ago, when Donald Trump won the presidency. Wiping the law off the books had become the Republicans’ defining cause, and Trump had pledged to make repeal his first priority. (Cohn, 3/22)
