Dec 24 2013
The New York Times: Deadline For Health Care Sign-Up Is Extended by a Day
The White House has decided to allow an extra 24 hours for people to sign up for insurance on HealthCare.gov, through the end of the day Tuesday, to receive coverage beginning on Jan. 1, according to a senior official familiar with the change. The official deadline for getting insurance remains 11:59 p.m. on Monday. But because of record traffic on the website Monday morning, officials wanted to reassure the public - and themselves - that people who sought coverage in good faith would be covered (Shear, 12/23).
CNN: Obamacare Deadline Extended By One Day
"Anticipating high demand and the fact that consumers may be enrolling from multiple time zones, we have taken steps to make sure that those who select a plan through tomorrow will get coverage for Jan 1," said Julie Bataille, spokeswoman with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is running the federal site, healthcare.gov (Luhby, 12/23).
Fox News: Administration Pushes Back ObamaCare Sign-up Deadline By A Day
CMS confirmed the change after The Washington Post first reported it. The acknowledgement came as applicants encountered site problems on Monday, with users being placed in a virtual waiting line when the system was overloaded. But the agency compared the tweak to Election Day, when people in line when the polls close would still get to vote (12/23).
The Washington Post: Obama Adminsitration Quietly Extends Health-Care Enrollment Deadline By A Day
An administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said computer systems had been programmed to accept consumers who try to enroll through Dec. 24, "proactively recognizing that we need to be prepared to handle heavy online traffic or other technical issues." ... On Monday morning, one insurance industry official, informed by The Washington Post about the quiet deadline extension, criticized the move. "Making yet another last-minute change to the rules by shortening an already-tight time period in which to process enrollments makes it even harder to ensure people who have selected a plan are able to have their coverage begin in January," said the official (Goldstein and Eilperin, 12/23).
Chicago Tribune: Obamacare's Signup Deadline Extended To Christmas Eve
[T]he original deadline for obtaining medical coverage was Dec. 15. That was extended to Dec. 23 after the federal government's website, HealthCare.gov, proved dysfunctional and sometimes non-functional. Then on Monday the deadline was pushed back again. The administration had reserved the right to change the deadline again "should exceptional circumstances (12/23).
|
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
|
On the hook for uninsured residents, counties now wonder how they’ll pay