The Obama administration announced Friday it has adjusted the Affordable Care Act calendar once again, making it possible for consumers to enroll for health insurance through Dec. 23 in order to be covered on Jan. 1. The administration decided to stretch purchasers' decision-making allowance by eight days to accommodate continued challenges prompted by work underway to build and repair the federal website, HealthCare.gov.
Also announced Friday was a delay of the 2014 enrollment period, which will push the start date beyond the Nov. 4 midterm elections.
The 2013 change squeezes the December turn-around time for insurers, who must process all final enrollments and payments. Instead of having two weeks after the cut-off of new enrollments, they will have one week before new policies go into effect in 2014.
The decision also gave the government another week to improve the electronic process of transmitting all accurate data to insurers from both consumers and Uncle Sam before new policies take effect.
The administration consulted with insurers before embracing an extra week of health-care shopping time for Americans before Christmas.
“They are aware of this date change, and this was done in consultation with them to make sure that consumers would be able to access coverage beginning Jan. 1,” said Julie Bataille, director of communications for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is the arm of the Health and Human Services Department responsible for implementing the enrollment process in 36 states.
Consumers who sign up for new coverage through the federal marketplace are not considered covered until their payments are received by the insurance companies they selected. To be insured on Jan. 1, payments must be received no later than Dec. 31, Bataille said.
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