Iowa sets record for healthcare marketplace enrollment

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Iowa set a record for a third straight year for enrollments in the Healthcare Marketplace under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Federal data shows more than 82,000 Iowans are enrolled with health care plans for 2023 through the insurance exchange. That’s up from more than 72,000 in 2022 and 59,228 in 2021 - both of which set records at the time. Iowa added a fourth carrier to the marketplace this year with CareSource joining Medica, Oscar and Wellmark in offering health insurance plans under the enrollment period that ended January 15th.

The exchanges also saw record enrollment nationally, with more than 16.3 million Americans enrolled through a marketplace, a nearly 50% increase in enrollments over the past two years.

In a release, the Biden Administration took credit for the increase, citing efforts to make enrollment easier and to increase competition in those exchanges as a way to drive down premium costs. That included subsidies for many families to pay for insurance plans on the exchanges as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.