ACA Subsidies: Timeline of Changes and Impact
Hear about the recent and upcoming changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace enrollment, eligibility, and subsidies. One document details a federal court’s decision on August 22, 2025, to pause several new, stricter enrollment and eligibility standards issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that were set to take effect shortly thereafter, following a lawsuit alleging improper issuance. The other source provides a timeline of subsidy changes, outlining how the original ACA rules were enhanced by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the Inflation Reduction Act through 2025, but are scheduled to revert to the less generous original ACA structure in 2026 under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) law. This reversion, coupled with tighter verification, full tax credit recapture, and narrowed eligibility for some groups, is projected to result in higher costs for many enrollees and an increase in the uninsured population.
