Posted on 12/23/2013 8:49:54 AM PST by kristinn
At midnight Monday, the official deadline arrives for Americans to sign up through the new federal health insurance exchange for health plans that begin Jan. 1. 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 marketplaces 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.
The switch is the most recent rule change some by government officials, and at least one by the insurance industry as a milestone approaches for what has been a tumultuous three-month start of the long-awaited opportunity for Americans to buy new health plans under a 2010 law intended to reshape the nations health-care system.
For the first two months of the sign-up, a federal Web site, HealthCare.gov, had so many software and hardware defects that many consumers who wanted to select new insurance were frustrated by computer error messages. And administration officials held off on a planned campaign to urge people to take advantage of the opportunity for new insurance.
At the start of this month, Obama administration officials announced that the Web site was largely working smoothly, and began to urge consumers to sign up for coverage before the Dec. 23 deadline. The full open-enrollment period extends through the end of March, but the first deadline is for people who want coverage to start on New Years Day the date it first becomes available.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Power grab and redistribution of wealth or income from the productive to the leeches. It works perfectly for that purpose, as it was intended to do.
Don’t know what will happen later ex-snook for certain. Merry Christmas, ex-snook, to you and yours. May you and yours be blessed with many many more years. Salute!
Changing the law?
“The whole 0bamacare catastrophe is like watching fourth graders play with gasoline.”
And a Zippo lighter...
Obama has too much invested to have Obamacare fail. He will do whatever is necessary to keep it afloat. It may morph into something far different, but it will remain in place. The Dems will see to that no matter how much it costs.
I’m confused. The deadline is Jan 1st. They extended it one day saying they must be signed up by midnight Dec 31st. Where is the one day extension?
Another thing that’s confusing is they say you have until March 31st to be enrolled. Are they saying they want all of your information by Jan 1st so they can nail your ass on Mar 31st?
Since the rules can (and are) changed daily, with no repercussions to the regime, how can they fail?
And well you should. The average Medicare recipient receives three times more in benefits than they made in contributions.
This graph shows that the average man and woman (average defined in the study as average income over their working lives and living to the average life expectancy) who start receiving benefits in 2010 get over 3 times more in benefits than they pay in to the system! Of importance, the study accounts for inflation by calculating all past taxes and future payments in 2010 dollars to provide an accurate comparison.
If the notion that Medicare recipients are simply "getting back what they paid in" is false then where is the money coming from? Simply, the excess received is being borrowed from younger generations and the cost is more than we can bear.
Medicare has been running in the red since 2008.
That’s an excellent chart.
Medicare has a GINORMOUS deficit.
Don’t forget the offsetting effect of the Death Panels though.
Every year they slice off the lifespan is HUGE in the financials.
I have already been advised that I don't understand sarchasm
But .. I beleive that Kwanzaa will be more celebrated than this pResident !
If Medicare is not reformed, it will consume the entire federal budget.
Because they needed to appear sober and rested for the photo ops after the New Year celebrations.
I’m glad we don’t have a Constitution anymore.
We’re getting so much more done. :)
When you get old Medicare will be there for you and your family will not have to pay for your healthcare unless they throw you off the cliff because you haven’t paid enough into it.
Nine out of every 10 Medicare recipients have supplemental or Medigap insurance. Do you have that? Medicare Parts B and D are now a means tested, four tier system depending on income.
As well intended as Medicare may be, it is unsustainable financially. We can't afford it as currently structured.
To get COVERAGE by Jan. 1, the old deadline was Dec. 23. Obama/HHS changed that to Dec. 24 ("11:59 p.m. on Christmas Eve") and folks will still have coverage starting Jan. 1. That is the extra 1 day. I doubt they checked with the insurance companies before doing this .... shortens their time to process information by yet another day.
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