A majority of Obamacare applicants for 2025 are from states that voted for Donald Trump, Newsweek reports.
In the open enrollment period between November 1 and November 22 this year, more than three million Americans, including nearly 500,000 new customers, signed up for coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Of that three million, a whopping 82% are from states that voted for Trump in the election even though he has suggested he will once again try to repeal and replace the healthcare law in his second term.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) the most applications for Obamacare in 2025 are from Florida with 820,452 followed by Texas with 619,805, California 281,051, North Carolina 110,347 and Utah with 84,478 rounding out the top five.
The numbers indicate that Trump voters will be the most affected if he and his allies follow through with his plan to end the program.
At an event in October, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) suggested that Republicans will target Obamacare.
“Health care reform’s going to be a big part of the agenda. When I say we’re going to have a very aggressive first 100 days agenda, we got a lot of things still on the table,” Johnson said, according to video footage obtained by NBC News.
Asked by an attendee at the event if that means “no Obamacare,” Johnson responded, “No Obamacare. The ACA is so deeply ingrained, we need massive reform to make this work and we got a lot of ideas on how to do that.”
Trump tried and failed to repeal Obamacare during his first term and is already signalling he will try again in his second term.
In an interview earlier this month with ‘Meet The Press’ Trump said “Obamacare stinks. It’s lousy. There are better answers.”
Pressed for details on his new plan to replace the ACA Trump said he has “concepts of a plan that would be better” than Obamacare, without offering any specific details.
Trump’s return to office coincides with a crucial time for the ACA as several subsidies are set to expire in 2025 unless Congress, which will be controlled by Republicans, vote to extend them.
