U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) today applauded an announcement from the Biden administration that a record 16.3 million Americans have enrolled in health plans through the Affordable Care Act during the 2023 Marketplace Open Enrollment Period. Shaheen has spearheaded efforts to lower premiums to make health insurance more affordable for patients through her signature legislation, the Improving Health Insurance Affordability Act, which she just reintroduced this week. The bill would make permanent enhanced tax credits that led to this record Marketplace enrollment, while reducing health care costs for tens of thousands of Granite Staters and millions of additional Americans.

“These numbers are a big deal and reflect the impact of expanding premium tax credits for working families to access more affordable health insurance. This was a pillar of my legislation and is why I worked so hard to include it as a provision in the American Rescue Plan and again in the Inflation Reduction Act. But now, it’s time we made these tax credits permanent,” said Shaheen. “I’ll do everything I can this Congress to get my full bill passed so we can continue working to lower costs and expand access to quality care for all Americans.”

Last Congress, Shaheen successfully secured premium tax credit enhancement provisions from her legislation through COVID-19 relief legislation, the American Rescue Plan. This expansion of premium tax credits marked the biggest improvement to the Affordable Care Act since it became law over a decade ago. When the tax credits were set to expire at the end of last year, Shaheen successfully extended their authorization through the Inflation Reduction Act. Today’s record-breaking enrollment announcement is driven by the enhanced tax credits proposed by Shaheen.

According to a June 2022 report from the Department of Health and Human Services, absent the enhanced premium tax credits Shaheen helped secure, 8.9 million Americans stood to have their tax credits reduced and 1.5 million would lose their subsidies entirely. Similarly, a February 2021 Urban Institute analysis of changes included in this legislation indicates that the Improving Health Insurance Affordability Act could significantly reduce out-of-pocket costs for consumers newly eligible for CSR assistance or heightened levels of CSR assistance through lower deductibles.

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