MADISON, Wis. — Yesterday, reporting from the Associated Press on new ACA enrollment numbers revealed that since the passage of the Big Ugly Bill and the GOP’s refusal to continue ACA funding, roughly 45,000 Wisconsinites have lost coverage under the ACA. Every member of the Wisconsin congressional delegation—including Bryan Steil, Derrick Van Orden, and Tom Tiffany—supported the legislation imploding the ACA.
Read excerpts from the story below:
“States across the country saw steep drops in the number of people covered by the Affordable Care Act over the past year, with Ohio and Oklahoma each losing nearly one-third of enrollees, according to new federal data that provides the first complete 50-state breakdown of sharp enrollment declines following the January expiration of enhanced subsidies.
The data, posted in late June by the Trump administration and first reported on by The Associated Press, reveals how changes in each state’s insured population led to around 2.6 million fewer Americans having Obamacare plans in February compared with the same time last year.
[…]
“This is the first time we’ve seen state-level data that shows how much ACA marketplace enrollment truly fell,” [Cynthia] Cox said. “It’s in line with our expectations, but it does show a very steep drop in the number of people with ACA coverage.”
Health analysts have kept a close eye on changes in ACA enrollment since the expiration of so-called enhanced premium tax credits caused many Americans’ monthly health insurance fees to double or triple, forcing some to forgo coverage entirely.
[…]
Health insurance costs have been rising across ACA and other health insurance programs at a time when voters in the approaching November elections say affordability is among their top concerns.
In a report released last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested the significant drop in enrollment this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment. But analysts have said it was more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, and other changes, including tightened requirements on which immigrants could access subsidized plans.”
