After final confirmation that 11.8 million people nationwide purchased 2018 health insurance through the individual insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act, meaning that despite a year of aggressive sabotage by the Trump Administration, overall enrollment equaled 96% of last year’s total, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:
“The American people are our own best health care advocates, and today’s enrollment total shows that we keep on beating the odds. This year’s open enrollment succeeded thanks to an untold number of enrollment assisters, community activists, health care professionals, and volunteers who did what their government refused to and helped their fellow Americans get covered.
“Despite everything the Trump Administration threw in their way, the high number of people who bought comprehensive insurance through the individual insurance marketplaces this year, 11.8 million, shows that the marketplaces are an essential component of the American health care system. Enrollment could have been even higher this year, but unfortunately, the cumulative effect of Trump’s year of sabotage was that too many Americans faced higher prices or fewer choices, as well as new hurdles to enrollment.
“The millions of people who bought coverage deserve a Congress that will protect and improve their access to care, but instead, their own Republican elected officials continue to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. They have already spiked next year’s premiums double digits by repealing the individual mandate and will do even more damage if they refuse to address and fix President Trump’s administrative sabotage.
“Along with Medicaid expansion, the marketplaces are how the Affordable Care Act succeeded in driving the American uninsured rate down to historic lows. Clearly Americans want and need to shop on their own for coverage in a marketplace where they can’t be denied for having a pre-existing condition or priced out based on their age, gender, or medical history.
“Despite the odds, this year’s enrollment total was 96% of last year’s. When you look at the numbers, it’s clear that with nurturing instead of sabotage, these marketplaces could keep expanding access to coverage and help reverse the increase in the uninsured rate that’s being caused by President Trump and his Republican allies’ war on our care.”