A key Obamacare deadline was taking place Monday, with time ticking away either for consumers to choose coverage that starts on Jan. 1 or for current enrollees to make any changes they need to avoid premium increases next year.
Customers have until midnight Pacific time, or 3 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday,
reports Fox News, and administrators for the HealthCare.gov site and state insurance sites were expecting heavy online traffic as the cutoff time approached.
Many customers are facing higher premiums in 2015, but may be able to shop on the exchange site for a more economical plan. However, people with questions may have difficulty getting a call through on the federal call center line, as wait times started increasing last week and counselors are reporting that some people are on hold for as long as 20 minutes before they can talk to anybody.
Customers actually have until Feb. 15 as a final deadline for signing up for care. However, they will not be insured until after the first of the year and could see a lapse in coverage. Further, people who already have insurance will default to their current plans if they do not make a move to change their insurance by the end of the day Monday.
Subsidized private insurance is offered through the Obamacare sites, with families getting varyious amounts of tax subsidies, depending on their incomes and family sizes, to help pay the costs. About 6.7 million people obtained their coverage through the law last year, and the Obama administration wants to raise that number to 9.1 million in 2015.
Picking policies is difficult for many customers, but "they appreciate the ability to get health insurance," said Elizabeth Colvin, of Foundation Communities, an Austin, Texas, nonprofit helping to sign up low-income recipients. "People who haven't gone through the process don't understand how complicated it is."
The website is not plagued by most of the problems that hit it last year, but there are some updates that may cause some customers confusion. Current customers who do nothing will keep their insurance plans on Jan. 1, but could find themselves paying higher premiums, while keeping subsidies that may be less than those they are now entitled to use.
In addition, recipients who turned 21 this year will see a 58 percent increase in their premiums, reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income people. However, under the new law, young adults can stay on their
parents' insurance policies until they reach the age of 26, whether or not they still live with their parents.
But if consumers choose to automatically renew their policies, they will default to last year's tax credits, which many people will likely do, said Judy Solomon, a healthcare policy expert at the center. This could lead some young adults to drop their policies, she said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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