(AURN News) — New federal data first reported by The Associated Press show roughly 2.6 million fewer Americans were enrolled in Obamacare plans this February compared with a year earlier. This is the first full state-by-state look at the decline.
Ohio and Oklahoma saw the largest declines, with both losing about a third of their ACA enrollees. They were followed by Arizona, South Carolina, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Louisiana and Missouri.
Many of those states are in the South and have large Black populations and historically high uninsured rates.
The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services points to a crackdown on fraudulent signups. But independent health policy analysts say the bigger driver is the expiration of enhanced federal subsidies on Jan. 1, which made coverage more expensive, along with new restrictions on which immigrants can qualify for subsidized plans.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
