ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 race

What happened

Open enrollment begins Friday, Nov. 1 for 2025 health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Some 21 million people currently get health insurance through the ACA, or Obamacare, though the upcoming presidential election "could threaten eligibility and raise costs for millions of those in the program," The Associated Press said.

Who said what

The "future of 'Obamacare' has emerged as a key issue in the closing days of the presidential campaign," the AP said, after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said "no Obamacare" at a Pennsylvania campaign stop on Monday. He promised a "massive reform" of the ACA would be "a big part of the agenda" if Donald Trump wins and Republicans keep control of the House.

Kamala Harris pointed to those remarks yesterday, telling a rally in Reno, Nevada, that "Donald Trump still wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act," and if he wins, "they would throw millions of Americans off the health insurance and take us back" to when "insurance companies have the ability to deny people with pre-existing conditions." Trump said on social media he "never mentioned doing that, never even thought about such a thing."

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Trump "repeatedly vowed to repeal Obamacare" in 2016, Reuters said, and his efforts to do so died in the Senate by only one vote. The next president and Congress will once more steer the ACA's fate, most immediately by extending billions in premium subsidies and expanded eligibility that expire next year, or not.

What next?

Open enrollment ends Jan. 15, though people must sign up by Dec. 15 for coverage to start Jan. 1.