Obamacare drop-dead date, quietly extended
With today as the final deadline to sign up for an Obamacare health plan, the White House announced yet another extension.
According to the Washington Post, the White House did this without any public announcement of the change:
But, without any public announcement, Obama administration officials have changed the rules so that people will have an extra day to enroll, according to two individuals with knowledge of the switch.
Over the weekend, government officials and outside IT contractors working on the online marketplace’s computer system made a software change that automatically gives people a Jan. 1 start date for their new coverage as long as they enroll by 11:59 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Yet last week’s announcement — from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight, that individuals whose insurance plans were canceled, could receive an exemption from the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act — was thought to be the last of the last-minute changes to the law.
From the Post:
On Monday morning, one insurance industry official, informed by The Washington Post about the quiet deadline extension, criticized the move. “Making yet another last-minute change to the rules by shortening an already-tight time period in which to process enrollments makes it even harder to ensure people who have selected a plan are able to have their coverage begin in January,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the change has not been made public.
Covered California overloaded?
Back in California, the website for California’s health exchange, Covered California, is having troubles. I received word the website was down. “Covered Cal crashed just now as I was trying to enroll,” a friend sent me in an email message.
The website was moving slowly, and finally unresponsive when I made several attempts to sign on. Apparently Californians don’t know they’ve now got another day to sign up … until the next exemption from the federal law.
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