Don’t know when the ObamaCare payment deadline for you to ensure you are covered even is anymore? If you have signed up through ObamaCare exchanges, by any method, you aren’t covered if you haven’t paid your first premium.
Despite the Obama administration trying to calm fears, just as the case with any other insurance plan, new ObamaCare enrollees still have to pay their first month’s premium to use the coverage. However, if you are confused when that payment has to be made it isn’t likely to be your fault, because ObamaCare payment deadlines are different all over the country.
In fact, the law has been a dynamic conglomerate of evolving deadlines.
The deadline to sign up for coverage was originally December 15, but it was unilaterally changed by the Obama administration to December 23. As if one more day would have made a tremendous difference in enrollment, they moved it again to December 24.
And when the December 24 deadline came and went last Tuesday night, the Obama administration announced that users who ran into technical problems on HealthCare.gov could still apply for an exemption and get covered by January 1, though it was not made clear how they would determine who did or didn’t experience technical problems.
Next came the ObamaCare payment deadline on December 31, which was altered after the Obama administration “requested” major health insurance providers give people until January 10 to pay their first month’s premium, thus receiving coverage effective January 1. Retroactive coverage never goes over well with insurance companies, but eventually they conceded.
I wish it was that simple however, but it isn’t, because many states with their own exchanges have their own ObamaCare payment deadline. And some states have more than one.
Some of the earliest ObamaCare payment deadline states are California and Rhode Island. The deadlines for both those states are January 6, with Vermont setting a deadline of January 7.
The next round of ObamaCare payment deadlines are set for January 10, which include the following states: Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York.
In a few other states, however, different insurers have different deadlines, as is the case in Idaho. The insurers Bridgespan and Select Health, both extended their deadline to January 10, but PacificSource extended their deadline to January 15.
The deadlines in Washington, D.C., also depend on the insurer.
The final round of deadlines to make your ObamaCare payment falls on January 15, which include the following states: Maryland, Oregon and Washington state.
After the first set of deadlines has passed, those who still wish to enroll will have until the end of March to get insurance. Then, the federal government will fine those without coverage.
The Obama administration, when it is politically expedient, has decided to unilaterally carve out exemptions and postpone delays for privileged people and businesses. The insurance industry has been boiling with concern regarding the changes, stating that they will cause “tremendous instability” in the market.
The Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, was designed to use millions of young and healthy who aren’t buying, to offset the cost to insurers forced to accept sicker patients.
President Obama said at his end-of-year press conference that 1 million people have signed up through the federal and state exchanges, but according to records obtained by PeoplesPunditDaily.com, enrollments are nowhere even close to projections needed to stabilize premium cost and the entire system.
Administration officials originally projected a goal of 7 million people by the end of March. Based on data as of December 10, out of the 1.2 million people who have signed up (actually is it just under), only 364,682 are private paying plans. But that number includes those who have or have not made their first ObamaCare payment.
The rest, or 803,077 sign-ups, are all from Medicaid, which is lopsided enough to put the entire system in peril.
Ivan Olfarte / December 26, 2013
Payment due? Why worry – we’ll all be paying for this the rest of our lives…
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