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A record 24 million people have signed up for insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s landmark health legislation, as the program awaits an uncertain future under a Republican-controlled White House and Congress. Never have so many people enrolled in health care coverage through the government marketplace, a point of pride for many Democrats but a red flag to some Republicans. (Seitz, 1/8)

The past four years of record-breaking enrollment have been credited to enhanced subsidies first passed by the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extended by the Inflation Reduction Act through the end of 2025. “When I took office, I made a promise to the American people that I would bring down the cost of health care and prescription drugs, make signing up for coverage easier, and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid,” President Biden said in a statement. (Choi, 1/8)

Congress will discuss the future of ACA Marketplace subsidies in the coming months, but 2025 subsidy eligibility guidelines are locked in, and there’s still time to select a Marketplace plan for 2025. Jan. 15 is the deadline in most states to enroll in ACA-compliant coverage — also known as Obamacare — for the 2025 plan year. The annual open enrollment period began on Nov. 1. In all but seven states open enrollment ends on Jan. 15. The exceptions are Idaho (Dec. 16); Massachusetts (Jan. 23); California, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York (Jan. 31); and Rhode Island (Feb. 28). Missing the open enrollment deadline can have serious consequences. (1/7)

Since the adoption of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the drop in the uninsured rate has been important yet the disparities between Black and white Americans remain substantial, according to a new paper by Harvard Kennedy School Professor Marcella Alsan.  Alsan, the first serving faculty member to be awarded the MacArthur Fellowship while at HKS, is the Angelopoulos Professor of Public Policy and an applied microeconomist studying health inequality. “My work focuses on two main questions—what are the origins of health inequalities and then what can be done to reduce them,” said Alsan in a recent interview. (Hughes, 1/6)

Donald Trump’s election — and a lawsuit challenging the rule from 19 Republican-led states — now throws into question whether the Biden administration’s expansion of coverage for Dreamers will stay intact. While Trump has not commented specifically on the expansion, he tried to scrap DACA in his first term, a move that the Supreme Court overturned. The president-elect has also promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, though he recently signaled a softer stance toward DACA recipients, saying “in many cases, they become successful” and “we’re going to have to do something with them.” (Hooper, 1/7)