(TNND) \u2014 A new report showed about 14% of Affordable Care Act enrollees didn’t pay their premiums in January, signaling that millions more could be losing health coverage in the coming months.<\/p>\n
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services already announced a drop in enrollment in ACA, also known as Obamacare, plans this year.<\/p>\n
And now a report from Wakely Consulting Group<\/a>, which provides health care actuarial services, said that 14% of those who were enrolled for a 2026 ACA plan didn\u2019t pay their bill in January.<\/p>\n Those folks have a grace period, usually three months, to start paying their premiums before they get kicked off their health insurance.<\/p>\n About 23 million Americans were enrolled, either actively or passively, in ACA plans through either the federal government\u2019s platform or state-based exchanges, according to CMS<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s down from a record-high<\/a> of just over 24 million people enrolled in Obamacare last year, before the expiration of enhanced subsidies that made coverage more affordable.<\/p>\n But if the 14% of current enrollees who didn\u2019t make premium payments in January keep not paying and eventually get purged from the plans, then roughly 3 million more people will lose health coverage.<\/p>\n Simon Haeder<\/a>, a health policy expert who teaches at Ohio State University, said upwards of 6 million people might drop off ACA coverage by the end of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re going down from the tip of the iceberg, but we’re still not quite there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Haeder said there\u2019s always going to be folks who begin the year with ACA coverage and fail to pay their premiums. Some will be people automatically enrolled who really don\u2019t want coverage. Some may surrender their ACA coverage if they get better insurance through work.<\/p>\n But 14% \u201cseems excessively high,\u201d Haeder said.<\/p>\n And he thinks it\u2019ll go even higher as hope fades that Congress will bring back the enhanced subsidies.<\/p>\n Wakely actuary Michelle Anderson told The Wall Street Journal<\/a> they saw \u201ca big drop\u201d this January in people paying their Obamacare premiums.<\/p>\n The firm also noted there was significant variation across states in terms of the share of people paying their first premiums in January.<\/p>\n Despite expected price hikes, some people likely went ahead and enrolled for this year to keep their options open in case the expiring subsidies were reinstated, Haeder said. Some of those people probably also paid their premiums in January.<\/p>\n So, Haeder thinks even fewer people will keep paying in February and beyond as the sticker shock of higher premiums sets in.<\/p>\n \u201cLife’s gotten more costly since January,\u201d he said in a nod to higher gas prices brought on by the Iran war.<\/p>\n But disenrollment for nonpayment will take time to shake out, so health coverage could erode over the better part of the year, Haeder said.<\/p>\n The enhanced Obamacare subsidies were introduced in 2021\u2019s American Rescue Plan and extended through last year as part of 2022\u2019s Inflation Reduction Act.<\/p>\n KFF estimated<\/a> that subsidized enrollees would see their monthly premium payments more than double, increasing by about 114%, on average without the enhanced premium tax credits. Unsubsidized enrollees were looking at a 26%, on average, hike in premiums.<\/p>\n The new analysis from Wakely determined that the higher ACA costs could ultimately drive down enrollment between 17% and 26% this year.<\/p>\n Wakely also found that enrollees were more likely to pick cheaper ACA plans this year.<\/p>\n