Washington state on Monday became the first state to extend the sign-up deadline for health insurance until mid-April, allowing uninsured people to get health plans while filing their tax returns.
Other states and the federal government’s HealthCare.gov insurance exchange, which serves 37 states, said they, too, are considering extending through the tax season the sign-up period that officially ended Sunday night.
Washington state’s move followed short-term extensions of a few days to a week by a number of state insurance exchanges as well as HealthCare.gov, for reasons including harsh winter weather in some regions and a technical glitch that sidelined some consumers on Saturday. Some states said they would allow consumers who hadn’t completed applications by Sunday to finish them but didn’t stipulate a cutoff date.
Washington state said it extended its deadline until April 17 for residents who hadn’t realized they would face tax penalties under the Affordable Care Act for going without insurance in 2014 and 2015.
“This is the first year that residents may incur a tax penalty for not having health insurance under the Affordable Care Act,” said Richard Onizuka, chief executive officer of Washington’s exchange. “This special enrollment window will allow these individuals—as well as those who experienced difficulty completing their applications—additional time to get enrolled for 2015 coverage.”
The second enrollment period went relatively smoothly for both the state exchanges and HealthCare.gov. But late bumps for the HealthCare.gov site on Saturday, coupled with ajump in last-minute shoppers, prompted federal officials and a number of state officials to say that people could get up to an extra week to finish their applications for health plans for 2015.
HealthCare.gov had problems verifying some new applicants’ income for most of Saturday, enrollment workers and federal officials confirmed. The problems also snagged states running their own exchanges, because they rely on federal databases.
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., all said they were extending sign-up deadlines for those who had problems or were in line Sunday. Massachusetts and Rhode Island explicitly cited bad weather as a factor.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs HealthCare.gov, didn’t provide updated numbers for consumers who signed up in the past week. As of Feb. 6, around 10.6 million people had completed applications through the site, but only 7.75 million of them had picked plans or had their coverage automatically renewed from 2014.
A spokesman for CMS said the agency still hadn’t arrived at a final decision on a longer extension. “If and when a decision is made, we will notify consumers and stakeholders immediately,” said Aaron Albright on Monday. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and HealthCare.gov Chief Executive Kevin Counihan, as well as CMS principal deputy administrator Andy Slavitt, had said a tax-time extension was under consideration, but signaled it wouldn’t be announced while the main sign-up window remained open.
Under the health law, most people may seek coverage outside of the enrollment window only under special circumstances such as a marriage, divorce or job loss. For 2015 coverage, people could start signing up on Nov. 15, 2014, and were told they had until 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday to do so.
In Washington state, residents now can come to the website and say they have “other” reasons for signing up outside of the window, the exchange said. They will then have to call a special number.
People who were uninsured in 2014 face fines starting at $95 or 1% of their income when they file taxes this year. Fines grow to $325 or 2% of income for 2015, although millions of people qualify for exemptions.
Health-law supporters had been reluctant to mention the controversial requirement that people get coverage or pay a penalty when promoting sign-ups. They now worry that people who don’t file taxes until March or April will be upset when they learn about fines for 2014 as well as the possibility that they are locked out of enrolling for 2015.
Extending or moving the sign-up window is an idea long promoted by tax preparers and some academics. They point to challenges in signing people up during the winter, when weather conditions can be harsh and people are distracted by the holidays. They also say tax-filing appointments are the best time to push people who might be swayed to buy coverage by the law’s penalty for going uninsured.
A formal extension would be the Obama administration’s biggest change to sign-up rules. In the past, insurers have expressed concern about broad exceptions to the sign-up window, fearing that people could use them as an excuse to get coverage only after they find out they are sick. Industry representatives said Monday their support for a tax-time extension would depend on the details.
The head of Molina Healthcare Inc., an insurer that has been a big seller in several exchanges including Washington state’s, said he backed the state’s move and thought others should follow. “I don’t know what’s magic about November through February,” said Mario Molina. “I don’t think people are really trying to game the system…I think it’s a very positive development.”
In many places, groups already had been planning efforts beyond Feb. 15 to sign up people for Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor, which was expanded under the health law in many states and allows year-round enrollment. Enrollment workers said Sunday they were planning to rest for a day but would be excited to come back and help more people sign up in private insurance on the exchanges if they could.
Date:- February 16, 2015