CHARLESTON, W.Va. – With the open enrollment period for Affordable Care Act healthcare insurance drawing to a close, experts are seeing changes to signup trends in West Virginia.

Higher rates for ACA programs mean people are choosing to change their coverage or drop it entirely, according to ACA navigator Jeremy Smith with First Choice Health Systems.

“Maybe about a quarter of people are either dropping out or switching into a high-deductible plan because it’s more affordable. That way, they can keep more coverage,” he said.

Subsidies for the Affordable Care Act expired on December 31, and Congress has yet to pass an extension. Smith said concerns from people worried about affording their insurance are frequent.

“Everybody is calling us every time there’s an article in the news about maybe a deal is being made. They don’t really understand what’s going on, so we’re getting a lot of people consistently calling us to see if the enhanced subsidies have been extended or not, and, unfortunately, so far they haven’t,” he said.

In addition to more people dropping their coverage, Smith is seeing fewer new signups come through the door for assistance from First Choice. He believes there is less awareness of the Affordable Care Act because his organization had its funding slashed in 2025.

“We’re normally out there doing outreach on the street and working with partners to promote the program, and we received a 90% funding reduction this past year, so we haven’t been able to do those types of things this open enrollment,” he said.

The open enrollment period concludes at midnight on Thursday, and Smith said he’ll be working into the late hours to help as many people get coverage as he can. He stressed that the ACA is designed to help people who can’t get insurance elsewhere.

“If you can’t get insurance through a job or Medicare or Medicaid, these plans are specifically designed for you, and it’s good, quality health insurance. There’s a variety of plans to pick from, so it never hurts to look,” he said.

A proposed extension of ACA subsidies passed the House of Representatives last week, but a Senate bill has yet to reach the floor.