False: President Biden signed an executive order making health insurance free for qualifying Americans.

By: Nikita Kochhar
January 31 2023

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Context

A post on Facebook claims that U.S. President Joe Biden has signed an executive order making health insurance free for qualifying Americans. It carries a video of president Biden signing papers in the Oval Office, with text reading, "CLAIM MY HEALTH BENEFIT. Your 2023 Relief Package Is Here! President Biden signed executive order 14009, making Health Insurance free for qualifying Americans. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Americans with less than $50k/year income now qualify for Health Plans for as low as $0/month." The post was shared on the Facebook page "Health Care Pronto" and has been viewed over 60,000 times. 

However, the claim is false. The order doesn't make health insurance free for Americans. 

In Fact

A reverse image search of the keyframes of the video took us to its origin. According to a report in People magazine dated January 21, 2021, the image is from President Biden's first day in the Oval Office. Though the President did sign many executive orders on that day, including one that rescinded the 1776 commission (previously passed by the former U.S. President Donald Trump), and one intended to advance racial equity, he did not sign Executive Order 14009 on the day.

According to the official data on the U.S. government's website, President Biden signed Executive Order 14009 — Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, on January 28, 2021. The order does not make health insurance free of cost. According to CNN, 14009 calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to reopen enrolment on healthcare.gov, which serves 36 states, to those who need coverage from February 15 until May 15, 2021. The Affordable Care Act allows uninsured Americans to enroll even outside the 60-day window after losing their job. 

According to the White House, the act makes affordable health insurance available to more people, providing consumers with subsidies called premium tax credits that lower costs for households with incomes between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). It also expands the Medicaid program to cover all adults with income below 138 percent of the FPL. The law also aims to support innovative medical care delivery methods designed to lower health care costs generally. 

The Verdict

The video shows President Biden signing Executive Order 14009 in 2021. In addition, the order doesn't make health insurance free of cost for qualifying Americans. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.