Reversing Trump move, Biden extends fall Obamacare registration window by 30 days

The Biden administration is adding an additional 30 days to the annual open enrollment period for Americans to purchase individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare.

The move is designed to increase access to coverage and effectively reverses a decision by Donald Trump’s White House to reduce the annual period known as open enrollment when Americans choose their health plan for the year. next.

Americans will have an additional 30 days to “review and choose health plans via open enrollment,” which will begin November 1 of this year and run through January 15, 2022, on the HealthCare.gov website where residents of most states will choose. their projects. State-run states already have a similar enrollment period.

“(Friday’s) action to extend the open enrollment period by one month, continue our investment in local healthcare navigators, and establish a special enrollment period for many low-income people further demonstrates our commitment to connecting families to coverage, ”Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees health insurance coverage under the ACA, said in an announcement Friday. .

Trump and the Republicans during his term alone made numerous unsuccessful attempts to repeal the ACA. Trump made it harder to purchase health insurance coverage, however, starting in the fall of 2017, when his appointees halved the three-month open enrollment window to just 45 days for states that s ‘relied on the HealthCare.gov portal. , ending the registration period on December 15th.

But the Biden administration’s decision to extend the annual fall enrollment period is designed to improve access to health care, the Biden administration said.

“We continue to respond to the American public’s clear call for affordable and accessible care,” said Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services. “The Biden-Harris administration has already made historic investments to help connect communities to coverage. By continuing to build a political framework that can sustain this momentum, we are also rebuilding better for communities in need.