Georgians have more time to sign up for some ACA coverage

Monday was the deadline to buy health insurance that starts in January on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. But unlike many other states, it’s not too late for Georgia residents, who have until Jan. 15 to sign up for coverage that begins Feb. 1.

That’s because Georgia runs its own ACA marketplace exchange, GeorgiaAccess.gov. About 1.3 million people are enrolled in Georgia Access.

The Affordable Care Act is also known as Obamacare.

Prices for next year will still be high. Congress last week shot down attempts to fund lower health insurance premiums on the exchange, through an extension of ACA subsidies.

In Glynn County, the insurance company CareSource backed out of offering ACA coverage in the middle of open enrollment. There are about 1,200 policy holders in Glynn County, and residents there will now have until Feb. 13 to choose next year’s plans.

Analysts expect Georgia to see one of the nation’s biggest rises in uninsured people next year, as a result of expiring pandemic-era subsidies for ACA plans.

The final numbers for 2026 enrollment may not be clear for a couple of months. Huge numbers of people enroll at the last minute through auto-renewal. But after that, some people who became enrolled won’t pay the premiums and will drop off.

“The honest answer is it’s too early to say” how enrollment’s shaping up, said Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University.

Georgia’s active sign-ups as of Nov. 22, the third week of open enrollment, totaled 214,000, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Corlette said she was encouraged by that amount of activity.

Georgia’s premium prices are increasing overall by more than 100%.

Price increases will vary depending on factors like income level and age, and the type of plan selected. Some of the largest increases will be for people who make just above 400% of the federal poverty level. For example, a Fulton County couple making $85,000 a year who are 60 years old would see their lowest price silver plan increase from about $700 a month to more than $2,600 per month.

In Georgia, about 460,000 are expected to go uninsured because of the higher prices and increased paperwork, according to the health policy research group KFF. Those changes were mandated under the GOP spending plan known as the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.

Congress can still reinstate the subsidized premium help at any time.

The “enhanced” federal subsidies that would have helped keep premiums lower were passed by Congress during the pandemic, and were always set to expire in 2025.

Extending the enhanced subsidies another 10 years would have cost taxpayers about $350 billion, according to updated estimates.

Congress is expected soon to consider other GOP-backed ideas, like giving some of the subsidy money to people in health savings accounts. But advocates have warned that won’t have the same effect as making robust coverage affordable up front.