This story was reported and written by VPM News.
Virginians now have an extra week to sign up for healthcare coverage through Virginia’s Insurance Marketplace. Kevin Patchett, director of the Virginia Health Benefit Exchange, announced the extension during a press conference Monday. The new deadline to enroll is Jan. 22.
“We’ve looked at the enrollment numbers and the enrollment trends, and people are still actively engaged in enrollments,” Patchett said. “We want to make sure that we do everything we can to make it possible for Virginians to get health insurance.”
Nearly 400,000 people have signed up for health insurance through the state marketplace since November. Patchett said about 50,000 of those enrollees are getting coverage through Virginia for the first time.
The commonwealth launched its exchange, run by a division of the State Corporation Commission, in 2023. That allows Virginia to keep money in the state rather than paying fees to the federal government for marketing and resources associated with HealthCare.gov.
The original Jan. 15 deadline was based on the federal marketplace’s open enrollment period. Patchett called the date arbitrary, saying most states with their own exchanges extend enrollment past the federal deadline. As of 2024, 19 states — including Virginia — and the District of Columbia operate insurance marketplaces outside the federal platform.
During the press conference, state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D–Chesterfield), chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee, said Virginia’s marketplace had been a success. Nearly 90% of the 400,000 people that enrolled through the state in the marketplace’s inaugural year qualified for health care premium savings. And nearly one-third of Virginians who buy on the exchange pay as little as $10 a month for coverage, according to Patchett.
“Thanks to the enhanced premium tax credits that were authorized by Congress, many people with higher incomes are now eligible for savings as well,” Hashmi said. “Virginia’s marketplace has been a resounding success, and these historic enrollment numbers mean that fewer Virginians are a hospital bill away from bankruptcy.”
Lester Johnson, who owns Mama J’s restaurant in Richmond’s Jackson Ward, said during the press conference that the health insurance he’s been able to access for himself and his employees was a “much-needed resource” providing access to preventive care and regular doctor visits.
“Having access to good health care gives my employees and I the security we need to focus on the work we love,” Johnson said. “I just want more small business owners and self-employed people to know that you can sign up for affordable health care and not have to worry about a medical crisis bankrupting you, and I would ask that Congress please extend these tax credits.”
President Joe Biden’s administration put enhanced health insurance subsidies, called Advanced Premium Tax Credits, in place in 2021 as assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhanced subsidies cut premiums nearly in half for enrollees receiving them, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Those tax credits are set to expire in 2025, and Patchett is unsure whether they will be extended after President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty right now with changes at the federal level,” Patchett said. “We wanted to do everything we could to make sure consumers had the opportunity to get coverage for this year.”
During the 2024 campaign, Trump suggested in an interview with CNBC that he was open to making cuts to entitlement programs like Medicaid and Social Security. Any changes made to federal health care funding would take effect in 2026.
Hashmi said she’s committed to working with Virginia’s congressional delegation to protect federal tax credits: “By signing up for insurance through the marketplace this year, Virginians will be sending a message to Washington that these tax credits are popular and that we have to keep a good thing going into 2026.”
Click here to visit Virginia's Insurance Marketplace website.
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