ACA Subsidy Expiration Forces Millions to Give up Healthcare

About 3 million fewer people in the United States had Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year, according to new federal data.

In the report released Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) suggested the 13 percent drop in enrollment from 22.1 million people in 2025 to 19.2 million this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or "phantom" enrollment. However, health analysts said it was most likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies that caused a surge in plan costs that resulted in many people being unable to pay their premiums.

"We know that real people lost their health insurance coverage," said Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at KFF, a healthcare research nonprofit, citing survey findings on people who had left their plans. "This coverage loss happened at the same time millions of people faced double or even triple digit increases in their premium payments."

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Associated Press.