The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it’s seeing a big uptick in the number of new customers buying private health insurance for 2023 from the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace.
Nearly 3.4 million people have signed up for coverage — an increase of 17% compared to the same time last year. The boost in enrollment comes as the number of uninsured Americans this year reached a historic low of 8%.
“When you have a good product, people will buy it,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told The Associated Press.
More than 665,000 new people have bought plans on the marketplace since open enrollment started on Nov. 1.
HHS didn’t provide any demographic details about the new enrollees, but Becerra said he hopes the agency is reaching people in marginalized communities.
Already this year, the marketplace saw huge gains in the number of Black, Latino and Native Americans who sought coverage.
Between 2020 and 2022, the number of Latino enrollees jumped from 1.7 million to 2.6 million while 1.3 million Black people enrolled last year, up from 900,000 the year before. The number of American Indian enrollees increased from 52,000 to 68,000.
“There’s a very strong chance we’re continuing to get communities that had been left behind to sign up,” Becerra said.
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