A record 24 million people have signed up for insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. However, some observers are questioning the future trend, as the tax credits that provided financial help to millions of enrollees will expire at the end of this year unless Congress passes a new law to extend them. The enhanced subsidies came from the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and were extended by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Automated systems verify enrollee income against the previous year’s tax filings to determine eligible subsidies and prevent fraud, according to the Associated Press. Providers will likely be in favor of the tax credits to help maintain the current population of patients who have insurance coverage. Many marketplace plans have coverage for urgent care—some with equal coverage for in-network and out-of-network centers.
Historic enrollment: Marketplace enrollment has grown in the past 5 years: 12 million (2021); 14.5 million (2022); 16.4 million (2023); 21.3 million (2024); 24 million (2025), according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.