Trump: ACA markets won’t reopen.

The Trump administration has decided against reopening the Affordable Care Act’s Healthcare.gov marketplaces to new customers, despite broad layoffs and growing fears that people will be uninsured during the coronavirus outbreak.

The option to reopen markets, in what is known as a special enrollment period, would have made it easier for people who have recently lost jobs or who had already been uninsured to obtain health insurance. The administration has established such special enrollment periods in the past, typically in the wake of natural disasters.

The decision will not prevent Americans who recently lost their jobs from obtaining health insurance if they want it. Under current law, people who lose job-based insurance already qualify to enroll for health insurance on the marketplaces but are required to provide proof that they lost their coverage. A special enrollment period would have made it easier for such people to enroll, because it would not require that paperwork. It also would have provided a new option for people who chose not to buy health insurance this year but want it now.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia have established special enrollment periods to allow people to obtain new insurance coverage.

The states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, and they control their marketplaces. But federal action would have been required to allow customers to reenter the markets in the 38 states with markets run by Healthcare. gov or that use the federal platform. (Idaho, which also runs its own marketplace, has decided against a special enrollment period.)

Many Democratic politicians criticized the decision Wednesday. Joe Biden, who leads the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, called for a special enrollment period. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also released a statement, suggesting it may become a campaign issue.

Both Democratic and Republican members of Congress had also urged the administration to consider a special enrollment period. But Congress declined to require such an enrollment period in its last round of coronavirus legislation, instead leaving the decision to federal officials.