The healthcare.gov deadline to buy health insurance coverage that starts January 1, 2016, has been extended to 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
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The additional time was granted because of “the unprecedented demand and volume of consumers” contacting the call center or visiting the website, federal marketplace CEO Kevin Counihan said in a prepared statement Tuesday night.
The federal call center handled almost a million calls Monday, making it the biggest non-deadline day in the three years of the marketplace, according to the health agency. Under the health law, the penalty will be the greater of $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of income.
Existing enrollees who are renewing their coverage for 2016 and those who are enrolling for the first time must do so before December 19 to have insurance by January 1 and to avoid a gap in coverage.
Yet administration officials said the days leading to the deadline had been the busiest ever on HealthCare.gov, the federal portal serving 38 states without their own web-based exchanges.
If you sign up by January 15, coverage will kick in February 1. Those leading enrollment efforts in the state have previously said they have noticed heavy interest throughout the enrollment period and are hopeful Texans are more informed this year about the value of having insure and how tax subsidies can lower premium prices.
The hardest groups to reach have been the invincibles – young people who are just starting out in their careers or families – and minorities.
Kansas City is lagging in the competition among 20 communities to see who can sign up the highest percentage of people without health insurance. They are among the uninsured who can expect waivers from the fines.
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The call centers and Healthcare.gov website for the federal insurance exchange is choked up with traffic from thousands of people in anticipation of the deadline to purchase a health plan through the Accountable Care Act, according to a National Journal report. 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.
