It’s Official: No More March 31st Deadline
I’m not making this up. From the Washington Post:
Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an extension by checking a blue box on HealthCare.gov to indicate that they tried to enroll before the deadline. This method will rely on an honor system; the government will not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth.
If you find that hard to believe, how about this?
The rules, which will apply to the federal exchanges operating in three dozen states, will essentially create a large loophole even as White House officials have repeatedly said that the March 31 deadline was firm. The extra time will not technically alter the deadline but will create a broad new category of people eligible for what’s known as a special enrollment period.
“The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline.”
I can honestly say this isn’t surprising. Everything else was given a delay, so why not the enrollment deadline.
I thought the deadline was working really well? That’s what the president has been saying. Also, aren’t there enrollees starting to meet the expectations? He said that too.
We have reached a time in American politics where you no longer should listen to what the president has to say.
Well I started doing that back in 2009..
“…will essentially create a large loophole even as White House officials have repeatedly said that the March 31 deadline was firm.”
A loophole you can jump through.
A loophole that has been existing for a long time.
“The extra time will not be restricted, though, to people who wait until the last minute to try to sign up. Although no one will be asked why they need an extension…”
What an excuse. This is just a cop out and a last ditch effort gain more enrollments. I really hope it doesn’t improve number of enrollments just to see what the government does next.
Probably start by making a year round enrollment, no start or end dates.
So they figure out a firm deadline finally… But I highly suspect the following statement in this article:
“The extra time will not technically alter the deadline but will create a broad new category of people eligible for what’s known as a special enrollment period.”
How comes?
It is a Chronic of a Death Foretold. We all saw this coming. Everybody suspected that ACA has been a failure in numbers, thus the administration will have to do anything in their power to alter these statistics. I don’t find this surprising, I was waiting for this announcement for a long time. It is election season; there is no way that the statistics are going to show that the Democrat star program is a failure, especially having them in power.
I will have a hard time believing this administration after this. Basically Obama has done things completely opposite of what he promised. He said we wouldn’t lose our insurance if we liked it; we lost it, to then have it back thanks to an executive order that created a chaos in the system. He said we wouldn’t lose our doctor, we lost it, as the insurers start to narrow their networks. He said that everyone will be better off, when in reality the program benefits only a few Americans. Obama has missed to deliver so many of his promises on healthcare, that it overshadows all of the other promises that he hasn’t delivered.
But I think that is a good thing. This demonstrates to the American people that they shouldn’t be seduced by candidates that promise things that cannot be delivered. We need candidates with real proposals and things that are doable. I hope Americans keep this in mind when they vote this year.
For all the flaws of the ACA and all the baloney the President has been peddling, I do not see what is wrong with extending the enrollment period.
If getting health insurance is a good thing, and more people will get it if they have more time to do, who is harmed?
The state exchange here in MN has very little phone support, and frequently crashes even now. People who work long hours might have tried to enroll but could not.
I am probably missing something, but why not have the exchanges open all year?
(ignoring the politics……just what is best for the American people?)