- Obamacare Sign-ups Are Surging, but There's a Twist New York Times by Haeyoun Park — Despite the Trump administration's efforts to scale back the health law, about 300,000 more people have signed up for health insurance in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces in the first weeks of this enrollment period than last year. But it's still early in the 2018 enrollment period, and people who sign up early are often those who need health care the most. Because the Trump administration cut the enrollment period in half this year, to 45 days from three months, weekly sign-ups would need to double to match the number of sign-ups in previous years. The deadline to sign up this year is Dec. 15 in most states. Last enrollment period, it was Jan. 31. ... But with the Trump administration's decision to cut the law's advertising budget by 90 percent this year, it is possible that the last-minute spike that helped boost enrollment in past years will disappear.