“It’s not surprising that people saw an immediate spike in the price of health coverage when the enhanced premium tax credits expired, and many simply couldn’t afford to stay insured.”
According to new reporting from the Winston-Salem Journal, North Carolinians’ enrollment in the Affordable Care Act dropped by 22% after DC insider Michael Whatley cheered on the expiration of the ACA tax credits, causing monthly premiums to double or more for nearly a million North Carolinians.
Whatley has also called for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
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Winston-Salem Journal: NC enrollment in federal insurance down 22% for 2026
Richard Craver | January 16, 2025
- Participation in the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace plunged by 22.5% in North Carolina for the 2026 enrollment period that ended Thursday.
- According to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services dashboard, as of Thursday, North Carolina has 755,919 enrollees for 2026, compared with 975,110 in 2025 and a record 1.03 million in 2024.
- The 219,191 enrollment decline was far more than the 36,000 that the N.C. Budget & Tax Center projected in October.
- Alexandra Sirota, executive director of the N.C. Budget & Tax Center said, “It’s not surprising that people saw an immediate spike in the price of health coverage when the enhanced premium tax credits expired, and many simply couldn’t afford to stay insured.”
- “We should expect to see these impacts ripple across our state: fewer people seeking care, more providers going unpaid and worsening health outcomes.”
- The governor’s office said the average marketplace enrollee in North Carolina is expected to pay $672 more in 2026 for the same health insurance they had in 2025.
- A sharp decline was expected, as the Trump administration cut funding for marketing resources and the controversial “One Big Beautiful Bill” that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 3.
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