40,000 fewer Michiganders seek Affordable Care Act health insurance

About 40,000 fewer Michiganders are signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year
Rising premiums and the expiration of tax subsidies are contributing to rising prices for coverage
The open enrollment deadline is Thursday

About 40,000 fewer Michiganders are signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year, according to new federal data, following a national trend in people dropping coverage amid rising premiums and expiring subsidies.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports 491,565 Michigan residents signed up through HealthCare.gov or have been automatically renewed in plans since the start of the 2026 marketplace open enrollment period in November. The agency reported 531,083 people in the state had selected plans at the same time last year.

Ahead of Thursday’s open enrollment deadline, policy analysts and health care stakeholders in Michigan pointed to several reasons for the rise in health insurance rates this year, including Congress’s failure to extend ACA-tax credits for premiums.

Still, state insurance regulators say the “biggest mistake” would be missing the opportunity to get health insurance coverage this year.

“Comprehensive, high-quality health insurance leads to better health outcomes, and time is running out for consumers to take advantage of free, local assistance to get the coverage they need through the Health Insurance Marketplace,” said Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services Director Anita Fox in a statement earlier this month.

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Nationally, around 800,000 fewer people have selected plans compared to a similar time last year, marking a 3.5% drop in total enrollment so far. That includes a decrease in both new consumers signing up for ACA plans and existing enrollees re-upping them.

The new data released Monday evening by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is only a snapshot of a continuously changing pool of enrollees. It includes sign-ups through Jan. 3 in states that use Healthcare.gov for ACA plans and through Dec. 27 for states that have their own ACA marketplaces. In most states, the period for shopping for plans continues through Thursday for plans that start in February.

But even though it’s early, the data builds on fears that expiring enhanced tax credits could cause a dip in enrollment and force many Americans to make tough decisions to delay buying health insurance, look for alternatives or forgo it entirely.

Experts warn that the number of people who have signed up for plans may still drop even further, as enrollees get their first bill in January and some choose to cancel.

At an appearance in Detroit Tuesday, President Donald Trump promised to unveil a new “health care affordability framework” later this week that he promised would lower the cost of care. He also pledged to soon offer more plans to help with affordability nationwide — even as he blamed Democrats for hyping up the issue.

“One of our top priorities of this mission is promoting greater affordability. Now, that’s a word used by the Democrats,” Trump said. “They’re the ones who caused the problem.”

In reaction to the federal government’s figures, Protect Our Care Michigan director Dianne Byrum laid the blame at the hands of the GOP in Washington.

“The solution is clear and already passed the House: a clean, three-year extension of the ACA tax credits. The only things standing in the way are Senate Republicans and Donald Trump,” she said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.