Obama Administration Secretly Extends Health-Care Enrollment Deadline By a Day

The Washington Post ^ | 11:32 a.m. EST Monday, December 23, 2013 | Amy Goldstein and Juliet Eilperin

[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 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.

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 nation’s 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 Year’s Day — the date it first becomes available.

[boatbums]

When I became eligible for Medicare, I already had private insurance through my husband’s retirement plan. I was told that private insurance was much better than Medicare and that I should try to stay on it as long as I could. HOWEVER, the insurance company I was covered under informed me that, since I was eligible for Medicare - regardless of whether or not I had it, they would only pay secondary and I would have to pay what Medicare would have paid. They essentially FORCED me to go on Medicare and drop them!

If you notice, the Obamacare plans don’t let you even know about premiums much less sign up for them if you are over 64. You ONLY have Medicare as your insurance choice.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Well, isn’t that SPECIAL!!?

[Talisker]

[kabar]

HOWEVER, the insurance company I was covered under informed me that, since I was eligible for Medicare - regardless of whether or not I had it, they would only pay secondary and I would have to pay what Medicare would have paid. They essentially FORCED me to go on Medicare and drop them!

Correct. Medicare becomes your primary insurance automatically. It makes sense from the insurance company's point of view since the government picks up most of the costs and then they can determine how much more they are willing to cover that the government doesn't. Your insurance premiums would skyrocket 65 and over.

Nine out of ten Medicare recipients carry supplemental insurance--and for good reason.

[mvpel]

You don’t have standing until you’re forced to actually pay the tax.

[unixfox]

Rules are meant to be broken. Some are to be ignored altogether.

F U B O !

[unixfox]

We need to spread that letter. Send it to Ted Cruz.

No need to send it to any RATS, they could care less.

[ex-snook]

" HOWEVER, the insurance company I was covered under informed me that, since I was eligible for Medicare "

Same here under my wife's plan. The insurance company wanted to be secondary, cheaper for them. Works out OK though. Medicare is primary.

I really don't understand why people don't want good health insurance. Especially married people.

[Rockitz]

I’d laugh, but this exercise in desperation by the administration is costing the taxpayers of this country way too much on many different levels.

[MeshugeMikey]

ah they thought of Almost everthing...

[Publius Maximus]

I need insurance for my family but the cost is much more expensive than in the past and put it outside my budget.

More than that, I refuse to participate in ObamaCare or “obey” its arbitrary deadlines and unconstitutional penalties.

(And I fart in the general direction of the cowardly Chief Justice who defied all logic and reason (I won’t even mention “original intent” of the authors of ObamaCare, which is a matter of record) and let them construe it to be a tax when CLEARLY it was intended to be an unconstitutional PENALTY.)

(And I won’t even mention that construed as a tax it’s still unconstitutional as it originated in the Senate whereas the Constitution requires all taxes to originate in the House. But I split hairs.)

[1_Rain_Drop]

"Its not fair to put their poor child in the cartoon."

Why not? She's one of the white hut "staff"

[CitizenM]

Saving to repost...everywhere.

[Captain Compassion]

I to believe that the “tax” is unconstitutional but this theory can't be tested until someone is forced to pay it. If nothing else those who are to pay the tax keeps changing. Taxes cannot be changed without the benefit of congressional laws.

CC

[MeshugeMikey]

this executive branch seems more than a bit CONFUSED as to who makes laws doent... HE!

[Old Yeller]

Redistribution. Illegals, deadbeats, and elitists benefit.