A new study from Johns Hopkins University finds the now expired expanded ACA premium tax credits implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic had significant impacts in enrolling more people in health insurance throughout the nation.

In total, the number of people enrolled in health insurance increased by about 7% after the subsidies were implemented in 2021.

Additionally, Black individuals enrolled in insurance more than tripled after the subsidies went into effect.

“The enhanced subsidies did not just expand coverage in some ways, they actually leveled the playing field,” said Paul Jacobs, an associate scientist at JHU’s Bloomberg School’s Department of Health Policy and Management. “Before the American Rescue Plan Act, a Black American eligible for marketplace coverage was less than half as likely to enroll as a white American. But after the subsidies, we found that that gap vanished.

Rural residents saw higher enrollment and children getting coverage increased from 18% to 36%.

Finally, part-time workers getting insurance increased by more than two-thirds.

“With these enhanced tax credits, we ran a five-year natural experiment on what happens when you make insurance affordable, and it shows that it works, you know, you lower the price, and people will take up that coverage,” Jacobs said.

The expanded premium tax credits expired on Jan. 1 after Congress did not renew them.

Marylanders will see ACA premiums go up by an average of 13.4% this year because of expiration.

Insurers claim that they need to increase premium rates because less people will be able to buy coverage without the credits.

About 500,000 Marylanders get their plans from the ACA marketplace.

With the loss of the credits, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that “the number of uninsured people will rise by 2.2 million in 2026, by 3.7 million in 2027, and by 3.8 million, on average, in each year over the 2026–2034 period.”