ACA enrollment deadline extended two days after last-minute surge
Published 2:25 pm Wednesday, December 16, 2015
- ACA enrollment deadline extended two days after last-minute surge
Mere hours before a deadline to begin or renew insurance coverage through HealthCare.gov for Jan. 1, federal officials said consumers could have extra time to buy a health plan.
People who want to have Affordable Care Act coverage on the first day of 2016 now have until 11:59 p.m. PST on Thursday to sign up on the federal insurance exchange, the marketplace’s chief executive announced Tuesday night.
CEO Kevin Counihan attributed the sudden grace period to an “unprecedented demand and volume of consumers” who have been logging onto the website this week and telephoning a nationwide network of call centers for advice on getting insurance.
Counihan and other federal officials have been eager to draw attention to the heightened interest in health plans being sold duringthe third ACA enrollment season, which began in November and will continue through January. He said late Tuesday that the last few days leading up to what had been the deadline for Jan. 1 coverage were the busiest ever on HealthCare.gov since it first opened in October 2013.
During the first two days this week, “hundreds of thousands” of people had chosen plans in the 38 states relying this year on the federal exchange. Because of high volumes, the officials said, about 1 million people encountered delays either in reaching a call center or logging onto the website, and many then followed instructions to leave their contact information to hold their places in line.
The vast majority of those consumers were waiting to speak with someone at a call center. The two-day extension, Counihan said, would give them time to choose plans.
A few states, including California and New York, had already announced extensions of their own.
This week’s surge is consistent with the pattern of the past two years, with many people waiting until the last minute to buy insurance through HealthCare.gov or separate marketplaces in a dozen states. During the first enrollment season, the government allowed repeated extensions – in part because of serious defects with the federal website that initially stymied many would-be insurance buyers. Earlier this month, federal officials ruled out a spring grace period.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell has sought to tamp down expections for any big increase in 2016 enrollment. Her forecast is for about 10 million people to be covered by ACA health plans, a marginal increase from the expected enrollment at the end of this year.
