Administration will give some consumers more time to buy, pay for health ... - Washington Post

The Obama administration announced Thursday it will give some Americans more time to buy health plans through the federal insurance marketplace and urged the insurance industry to make it easier for consumers to make the transition to the new coverage.

The revisions come as a Dec. 23 enrollment deadline looms for people who want insurance that begins Jan. 1. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius did not extend that deadline Thursday, but for the first time directed insurers to give consumers until Dec. 31 to pay.

Officials also asked insurers to accommodate customers in other ways, but it will be up to each company whether to go along. Sebelius urged insurers to begin providing coverage at the beginning of the year to customers who pay just part of their first month’s premium or pay in January.

Administration officials previously had moved the enrollment deadline back eight days, from Dec. 15 to Dec. 23.

Since Dec. 1, administration officials have been emphasizing that most of the severe problems at HealthCare.gov have been cleared up and have been encouraging consumers to go online and enroll. But the changes outlined Thursday are a tacit acknowledgment that even though enrollment has accelerated, not everyone who needs coverage is getting it quickly enough.

The group getting the most explicit guarantee of extra time to sign up is a small but especially vulnerable group of Americans: those who now have insurance through special “high-risk” pools for people so unhealthy they were rejected by regular insurers.

The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, was designed to serve as a temporary bridge until January, when the law requires insurers to accept all applicants, even those with medical conditions. Because that program, which covers about 85,000 people, is about to end, patients needed to get new insurance by Jan. 1, and some have been struggling to do so. On Thursday, the administration said they would allow people to stay in the high-risk program until the end of January, giving them an extra month to find alternative insurance.

For other Americans trying to buy coverage, the administration has held out the possibility of more time but has not provided a guarantee. Health officials, in a telephone call with reporters, said a federal rule allows consumers to ask for a special enrollment period if they are hindered in choosing a health plan on the online marketplace by a “system error.”

Health officials have not decided, however, exactly how people would be able to request such extra time, whether they need to ask before the Dec. 23 deadline, and the precise circumstances under which HHS would grant an extension.

In their announcement Thursday, officials asked the insurance industry to accommodate consumers in a variety of ways. For one thing, they encouraged insurers to let people sign up later than Dec. 23 and still begin coverage Jan. 1.

The new federal marketplace, and separate ones run by 14 states and the District, were intended mainly for people who have been uninsured. But they also are attracting millions of Americans who previously bought individual policies that are now being canceled.