Health insurance marketplace feels growing tremors from GOP cuts 

State ObamaCare marketplaces are starting to feel tremors from the GOP-controlled Congress’s ending of enhanced subsidies, as millions of Americans are dropping coverage. 

Experts and state officials say the impact varies from state to state, but enrollment decline is expected to grow this year and beyond, as policies from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and potential Trump administration regulation changes take effect. 

According to preliminary data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this year, total Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment for 2026 fell to about 23 million people, a drop of a little more than 1 million enrollees.  

Insurers and analysts think there’s been much more attrition since then and are projecting that enrollment could fall by as much as a quarter this year.  

Enrollment in HealthCare.gov dropped by nearly 8 percent compared with final 2025 enrollment, while state-based exchanges grew by 2 percent, according to an analysis by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. 

At the same time, new consumer enrollment fell by 14 percent, compared with just a 3 percent drop among returning enrollees. 

There will also be fewer choices for customers, as Cigna Group said it will exit the marketplace next year. While Cigna’s share of the ACA market is relatively small, it has been a long-time participant.  

Cigna is the second major insurer to leave the ACA marketplace, after CVS Health’s Aetna stopped offering plans this year.  

“I think it’s safe to say that when insurers who care about their stock value and their profits begin to leave a market, there’s something wrong with that market,” said Jeanne Lambrew, a former health adviser in the Obama administration and a former top........

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