Obamacare Deadline Extended Amid Market Turmoil

Rising costs, fewer choices in President Obama’s signature domestic program.

The Obama administration Monday confirmed a 25% average jump in premiums for the Affordable Care Act’s benchmark health plans and acknowledged later sign-up deadlines for hundreds of thousands of people whose insurers are dropping their plans because of rising costs.

Sharper increases had already been posted in states around the country. Market-leader insurers that are continuing to sell coverage through HealthCare.gov or a state equivalent have been granted average premium increases of 30% or more in Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Mississippi and Texas. In states including Arizona, Illinois, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, the approved rate increases for the market leader top 50%.

And in another blow to President Barack Obama’s signature domestic program, consumers in many areas will also have few plans to pick from.

Hundreds of thousands of consumers whose health insurance plans are being discontinued for 2017 will get some flexibility when signing up for a new plan during the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment, a sign of continued turmoil in the exchange markets.

Open enrollment for 2017 begins Nov. 1. The Obama administration wants consumers with discontinued plans on the health law’s exchanges to select a new plan by Dec. 15. That is the main deadline most will have to abide by to get health coverage starting Jan. 1.

But for those who realize the deadline too late, there is some breathing room. Individuals whose plans are being discontinued next year because their insurer is leaving the exchange will be eligible for a special enrollment period, according to officials with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That means later deadlines and the ability to sign up for coverage outside the regular sign up season that runs from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31.

Individuals who lost coverage can attest to their situation and sign up as late as Dec. 31 and request coverage to begin on Jan. 1. If they miss that deadline, they may be able to wait until as late as March 1 to sign up for 2017 coverage under the special enrollment rules—although that would mean a lapse in coverage.

The flexibility is necessary because of the unprecedented number of consumers who are seeing their current health plans canceled as insurers curtail their exchange participation. It means many returning consumers could conceivably wait until the last minute to sign up—a scenario the Obama administration is trying to avoid—or even enroll weeks after the official end of the open enrollment season. The flexibility may delay ability to assess the success of sign-ups for 2017, and could create headaches for some insurers if they have to process an influx of applications just before the start of the year.

Major insurers such as United Health Group Inc., Humana Inc., and Aetna Inc. are withdrawing from some exchanges, and scores of consumers have gotten notices informing them their policies will be discontinued as a result. Premiums are also rising in many states by double digits, and other consumers are losing their coverage because smaller insurers have shut down.

Despite the challenges, the Obama administration expects 13.8 million people to select a health plan on the exchanges by the end of open enrollment—an increase of 1.1 million over the end of 2016’s sign up season.

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