Where Obamacare enrollment is plummeting
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Open embedded content from datawrapper.dwcdn.netOhio, Oklahoma, Arizona, South Carolina and Minnesota have sustained some of the deepest losses in Obamacare coverage since beefed-up federal subsidies expired this year, according to state-by-state federal data.
Why it matters: The coverage losses are hitting deep-red states as well as blue ones after Congress let the subsidies expire.
By the numbers: Ohio and Oklahoma each lost nearly a third of their Obamacare enrollment since last year, with other states' coverage dropping more than a quarter, according to the state breakdown, first reported by the Associated Press.
- Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Louisiana also had deep coverage losses.
- Nationally, Obamacare enrollment fell by about 3 million since last year, or about 13%, according to a separate federal report from the Department of Health and Human Services last month.
- That report attributed the drop-off to improper or fraudulent sign-ups by "phantom enrollees." But health policy experts have pointed to large numbers of people not paying their first ACA premium following the expiration of subsidies.
- The pandemic-era enhanced subsidies that Democrats passed in 2021 have overwhelmingly benefited red states, especially those that haven't expanded Medicaid, according to analysts.
What we're watching: How Republican candidates in the midterms talk about Obamacare subsidies and the coverage losses — if they talk about them at all. (We know what Democrats are going to say.)
