President Joe Biden’s White House is touting record enrollment in the Affordable Care Act ahead of its 14th anniversary on Saturday as his reelection team looks to take the issue out on the campaign trail. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health care overhaul also known as Obamacare, prepares to mark 14 years since then-President Barack Obama signed it into law in 2010
  • The White House is touting a record 21.4 million people enrolled in health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces during the 2024 open enrollment period
  • In the decade since the bill’s implementation in 2014, the White House noted a total of 45 million are enrolled in marketplace over Medicaid expansion coverage under the ACA
  • Biden’s reelection campaign is hoping the numbers give the incumbent president’s quest for another four years in the Oval Office a boost in the face of renewed GOP threats to repeal the health care law

On a call with reporters ahead of the announcement, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra noted a record 21.4 million people enrolled in health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces during the 2024 open enrollment period.

Five million of those enrollees, he said, were new to the marketplace, a 41% increase from 2023. 

“21.4 million people that's almost an 80% increase from the end of the previous administration's term with the Affordable Care Act," Becerra said. 

The 21.4 million sign-ups for 2024 marks a more than 30% increase from 2023, when 16.4 million people enrolled, according to data from the White House. The annual enrollment figure, the data shows, increased more than 78% from 12 million in 2021 when Biden first took office to 21.4 million this year.

The White House pointed to the expansion of tax credits intended to increase the affordability of marketplace coverage included in two of Biden’s signature pieces of legislation – the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act – as aiding in the increase. 

It comes as the sweeping health care overhaul, colloquially known as Obamacare, prepares to mark 14 years since then-President Barack Obama signed it into law in 2010. 

“When I ran for president in 2020, I promised the American people that I would protect the Affordable Care Act from partisan attacks and build on it,” Biden said in a statement on Friday marking the bill’s anniversary. “That’s exactly what I’ve done: getting more people affordable health insurance, lowering prescription drug prices, and giving families more breathing room.”

“Now more Americans have affordable health insurance than ever before, premiums are down, and enrollment is at an all-time high,” the statement continued. “We took on Big Pharma – and won, capping insulin at just $35 per month and out-of-pocket prescription costs at $2,000 per year for seniors.”

In the decade since the bill’s implementation in 2014, the White House noted a total of 45 million are enrolled in marketplace over Medicaid expansion coverage under the ACA. About 12.6 million people were enrolled in 2014, according to White House data. 

The overall rate of Americans uninsured in health coverage, according to the most recent federal survey, has dropped 16% from 2010 to 2023. Florida, for instance, saw its uninsured rate fall from 20% in 2013 to 11.2% in 2022. California recorded a drop of 17.2% in 2013 to 6.5% in 2022. Wisconsin dipped 9.1% in 2013 to 5.2% in 2022. 

Biden’s reelection campaign is hoping the numbers give the incumbent president’s quest for another four years in the Oval Office a boost in the face of renewed GOP threats to repeal the health care law.

Over the next few days, Biden’s team plans to host more than 20 events to mark the bill’s anniversary in eight battleground states. The campaign also plans to release ads and social media content surrounding the health care act. 

On Saturday, the bill’s official anniversary, the president will bring in his former boss, Obama, and former Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a call with supporters and volunteers. 

The campaign’s emphasis on the ACA builds on his team’s efforts to shine a light on the health care bill as Trump toys with a renewed push to repeal it. 

“There are extremists out there who say they will destroy the ACA. They will take health care and the peace of mind that comes with it away from millions of Americans," Becerra said on Thursday's call. "Well, that's what they're saying. But we won't let that happen."

Republicans’ crusade against the Obamacare largely quieted in the years after three GOP senators voted against repealing it during the Trump administration in 2017. But the former president reawakened the fight last year when he warned the legislation could be on the chopping block again should he win back the White House in 2024. 

“The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social. 

That comment sparked a rapid response from the Biden campaign, which sent a flurry of emails warning about the impacts of the bill being repealed and calling on Pelosi to host a press call on the topic with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. 

Amid the attention on his comment, Trump clarified that he doesn’t want to “terminate” the law, but wants to "replace" the landmark health care legislation.

“I don’t want to terminate Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE. Obamacare Sucks!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. While a Trump-backed repeal passed the House during his sole White House term in 2017, the effort failed in the Senate when three Republican lawmakers sank it. He has not offered a replacement plan.

“Trump wants to take us back to a time when health insurance companies could deny coverage to Americans with heart disease or diabetes or asthma. When you couldn’t leave a dead-end job because you couldn’t risk losing your health insurance. When a 22-year-old kid could be kicked off his parents’ plan because he graduated from college. When insurance companies could cut people off halfway through chemo because they'd reached the limit of what they were willing to pay,” Biden said in a statement marking the ACA’s anniversary. “I won’t let that happen.”

Biden’s team on Friday released a digital ad arguing “45 million Americans could lose their health insurance” should Trump win the White House again. The ad, the campaign said, is set to run on digital platforms such as Meta and YouTube in English and Spanish in battleground states. 

In December, Biden called in Obama to record a video message promoting the ACA, it still a “BFD” – a tagline Biden even gave a shoutout in his State of the Union address earlier this month. 

Folks Obamacare, known as the Affordable Care Act is still a very big deal,” he said in the House chamber. 

And speaking in New Hampshire earlier this month on the heels of his State of the Union address, the president sought to draw a contrast between himself and the GOP on health care. 

“Over 100 million Americans can no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition,” Biden said. “But my predecessor and many Republicans want to take that away – take that protection away by repealing the Affordable Care Act. I’m not gonna let that happen.”