The 2025 ACA Open Enrollment Period (OEP) officially begins on November 1st.

This is the best OEP ever for the ACA for several reasons:

  • A dozen states are either launching, continuing or expanding their own state-based subsidy programs to make ACA plans even more affordable for their enrollees;

*Note: There's still some uncertainty about this, as 19 Republican Attorneys General have filed a lawsuit to block this, and oral arguments were heard just a week or so ago, so it's conceivable that an injunction will be placed before November 1st.

Update 12/09/24: As expected, a federal court has shot down the eligibility of DACA recipients to enroll in ACA exchange coverage in the 19 states involved in the lawsuit. In theory the roughly 2/3 of DACA recipients living in the other 31 states +DC should still be eligible.

Update 12/19/24: OK, never mind: Another federal court has put a stay on the DACA enrollment injunction, so for the moment DACA recipients can enroll in every state.

Update 12/23/24: Rhode Island has extended their 2025 Open Enrollment period all the way out through the end of February due to the nasty security breach of RIBridges, their social services IT system. Anyone who enrolls thru 2/28/25 will have their coverage made retroactive to January 1st.

And remember, millions of people will be eligible for zero premium comprehensive major medical policies.

If you've never enrolled in an ACA healthcare policy before, or if you looked into it a few years back but weren't impressed, please give it another shot now. Thanks to these major improvements it's a whole different ballgame.

Here's some important things to know when you #GetCovered for 2025:

In August 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (passed with into law with purely Democratic votes).

While the IRA included a long list of landmark provisions, in addition to the critical upgraded ACA premium subsidies which are unfortunately set to expire at the end of 2025, other healthcare-related ones include:

It was in early 2021 that Congressional Democrats passed & President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which among other things dramatically expanded & enhanced the original premium subsidy formula of the Affordable Care Act, finally bringing the financial aid sliding income scale up to the level it should have been in the first place over a decade earlier.

In addition to beefing up the subsidies along the entire 100 - 400% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) income scale, the ARPA also eliminated the much-maligned "Subsidy Cliff" at 400% FPL, wherein a household earning even $1 more than that had all premium subsidies cut off immediately, requiring middle-class families to pay full price for individual market health insurance policies.

Here's what the original ACA premium subsidy formula looked like compared to the current, enhanced subsidy formula:

It was in early 2021 that Congressional Democrats passed & President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which among other things dramatically expanded & enhanced the original premium subsidy formula of the Affordable Care Act, finally bringing the financial aid sliding income scale up to the level it should have been in the first place over a decade earlier.

In addition to beefing up the subsidies along the entire 100 - 400% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) income scale, the ARPA also eliminated the much-maligned "Subsidy Cliff" at 400% FPL, wherein a household earning even $1 more than that had all premium subsidies cut off immediately, requiring middle-class families to pay full price for individual market health insurance policies.

Here's what the original ACA premium subsidy formula looked like compared to the current, enhanced subsidy formula:

BeWell NM, New Mexico's ACA exchange, has an Open Enrollment Dashboard updated weekly:

As of Dec. 29th, 2024:

  • Auto-Reenrollments: 39,826
  • Active Enrollments: 19,216
  • New Enrollments: 6,644
  • TOTAL: 65,686

What's more noteworthy is that when compared against the same point last year, New Mexico's 2025 ACA enrollment total is dramatically higher.

Not only is New Mexico's exchange enrollment up a whopping 29% vs. the same point last year, it's actually already 16% higher than the 2024 OEP's final total of 56,472!

It was in early 2021 that Congressional Democrats passed & President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which among other things dramatically expanded & enhanced the original premium subsidy formula of the Affordable Care Act, finally bringing the financial aid sliding income scale up to the level it should have been in the first place over a decade earlier.

In addition to beefing up the subsidies along the entire 100 - 400% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) income scale, the ARPA also eliminated the much-maligned "Subsidy Cliff" at 400% FPL, wherein a household earning even $1 more than that had all premium subsidies cut off immediately, requiring middle-class families to pay full price for individual market health insurance policies.

Here's what the original ACA premium subsidy formula looked like compared to the current, enhanced subsidy formula:

The Maryland Health Benefit Exchange hasn't released any press releases since Oct. 31st, so the only official 2025 Open Enrollment Period (OEP) data I have for the state is from this snapshot report issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) back on Dec. 4th, which placed Maryland enrollment at just 30,270 people as of Nov. 23rd...plus another 185,438 current enrollees who were categorized as having been automatically re-enrolled, for a total of 215,708 QHP selections as of early December.

By comparison, by the end of the 2024 OEP, Maryland reported a total of 213,895 QHP selections, so it certainly looks like the Old Line State is running ahead of last year.

With that in mind, this article from WTOP News sounds about right, although the exact phrasing of some of the numbers make it a little confusing:

via CoverME.gov:

Plan Selection Snapshot

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace (OHIM) will release biweekly updates on plan selections through CoverME.gov, Maine’s Health Insurance Marketplace.  

Plan selections provide a snapshot of activity by new and returning consumers who have selected a plan for 2025. “Plan selections” become “enrollments” once consumers have paid their first monthly premium to begin insurance. These numbers are subject to change as consumers may modify or cancel plans after their initial selection.   

The deadline to select a plan for coverage beginning January 1, 2025 is December 15, 2024. Consumers who select a plan between December 16, 2024 and January 15, 2025 will have coverage beginning February 1, 2025. 

It was in early 2021 that Congressional Democrats passed & President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which among other things dramatically expanded & enhanced the original premium subsidy formula of the Affordable Care Act, finally bringing the financial aid sliding income scale up to the level it should have been in the first place over a decade earlier.

In addition to beefing up the subsidies along the entire 100 - 400% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) income scale, the ARPA also eliminated the much-maligned "Subsidy Cliff" at 400% FPL, wherein a household earning even $1 more than that had all premium subsidies cut off immediately, requiring middle-class families to pay full price for individual market health insurance policies.

Here's what the original ACA premium subsidy formula looked like compared to the current, enhanced subsidy formula:

via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS):

September 2024 Key Findings

Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment

  • In September 2024, 79.4 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
    • 72.2 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid, and 7.2 million individuals were enrolled in CHIP.
    • 41.7 million adults were enrolled in Medicaid, and there were 37.6 million Medicaid child and CHIP enrollees.

Medicaid and CHIP Applications Received

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