Covered California has extended its enrollment deadline for health insurance that begins Jan. 1.
The deadline had been Dec. 15, but the state’s Affordable Care Act operation pushed it until Friday, Dec. 21.
It cited a U.S. District Court ruling that Obamacare was unconstitutional. The move came after “a surge of interest in enrollment and to ensure consumers have ample time to enroll amid news reports of a legal ruling on the Affordable Care Act.”
“Open enrollment is full-steam ahead and continues in California and other states for several more weeks,” Covered California chief Peter Lee said. “No one in California should let this ruling discourage them from enrolling in health coverage or be worried about using the health plan they have.”
Covered California said “consumer interest has surged in the past week,” pushing the number of new enrollees to select a plan during the current open enrollment period to 179,000. An additional 1.2 million Covered California consumers have renewed their existing coverage for 2019.
Consumers in California who sign up between Dec. 21 and Jan. 15 will see coverage begin Feb. 1.
Covered California has a history of extending its enrollment deadlines by a week or so, sometimes in an effort to boost the closely watched signup numbers and sometimes in response to events or glitches.
“While we have been considering a deadline extension for some time, the potential confusion surrounding this ruling means giving our consumers more days to enroll is the right thing to do,” Lee said.
The Covered California chief predicted the federal case “will wind its way through the courts and I’m confident the Supreme Court will once again do the right thing and uphold the Affordable Care Act.”
The open-enrollment period for health insurance ended for most of the country on Saturday, with numbers expected to be down significantly due to the end of the “individual mandate” that fines people without health insurance.
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