To avoid Obamacare surprises, reenrollment deadline fast approaching

If you want to have health insurance coverage in place for Jan. 1, the Obamacare deadline to reenroll is Dec. 15. The final deadline is Feb. 15.

|
Michael Chavez/SEIU/AP
People wait to enter an Affordable Care Act enrollment event sponsored by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and Community Coalition in Los Angeles Saturday.

The enrollment period for health insurance under Obamacare is officially three months long, but don’t assume you can wait until after the holiday season to think about it. For many people, Dec. 15 is a key deadline – one that’s barely four weeks away.

It’s not that Feb. 15 is a false deadline. Plenty of people can and will choose health plans in the new year.

But if you want to have coverage in place on Jan. 1, with the plan of your choosing, the middle of December is a deadline to pay attention to.

That’s because any enrollment after Dec. 15 won’t go into effect until February or later. If you bought a plan for 2014 on an Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, the coverage for this year ends on Dec. 31.

A twist to be aware of: Most current enrollees will be automatically reenrolled if they make no new decision by mid-December. So many people will have coverage in January even by “doing nothing,” as long as they pay their premiums.

But many health insurance experts are recommending that consumers take a fresh look at their options and consider actively enrolling or reenrolling by Dec. 15. The reason is that plans change. Everything from the price to your tax subsidy to the care providers in a given network may be different from last year.

Bottom line: Whether you’re brand new to the Obamacare exchanges or a returning customer, making a choice by Dec. 15 means you can be covered from the very start of the new year – and with the plan that best suits your needs.

“Don't hesitate to reach out for help,” says Bryan Fisher of Families USA, an advocacy group on health care policy.

He says the choice of insurance isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. One consumer may especially want access to a doctor or specialists who are geographically close, while another may care most about finding the lowest prices. And on price, there’s the need to compare both premiums and deductibles.

The official Obamacare website, Healthcare.gov, has a useful overview, and Families USA offers a short guide with questions to consider about the enrollment process.

Some other places where people can turn for information include a national ACA hotline (800-318-2596) and state exchange “navigators” who can assist by phone or in person. Nonprofit groups including Enroll America also offer guidance. Some people shop through an insurance broker or directly from a provider like Blue Cross, but you must buy on the Obamacare marketplace to qualify for federal tax subsidies.

Mr. Fisher says that, although the Dec. 15 date will be important for many people, shoppers can make use of the full enrollment period through February. For instance, after starting the new year with one plan, you can always shift into a different one if you decide by Feb. 15.

If you think automatic reenrollment is all you need, make sure you have a letter from your insurance provider confirming that they plan to reenroll you automatically. (Some insurers may not, because they are no longer offering the plan you had or something similar.) And again, you’ll probably want to confirm the plan’s network, pricing, and the tax subsidy you’ll be eligible for, so nothing catches you by surprise.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to To avoid Obamacare surprises, reenrollment deadline fast approaching
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2014/1117/To-avoid-Obamacare-surprises-reenrollment-deadline-fast-approaching
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe