Obama admin delays Obamacare sign-up deadline, will rely on ‘honor system’ March 26, 2014 By Katie 1 Comment Remember when the Obama administration said just two weeks ago that they don’t have the “statutory authority” to extend the Obamacare sign-up deadline? Well they were just kidding with us, because Tuesday they announced that they’re extending the March 31 deadline to Americans “who say that they are unable to enroll in health plans through the federal insurance marketplace” on time: Federal officials confirmed Tuesday evening that all consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension. Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an extension by checking a blue box on HealthCare.gov to indicate that they tried to enroll before the deadline. This method will rely on an honor system; the government will not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth. Here’s the truth: This extension isn’t really just for people who “tried” to enroll prior to the deadline. If that were the case the government would require tangible proof of an enrollment attempt. Really, this extension is a passive admission by the feds that they know they aren’t going to have enough legitimate enrollees by March 31, so they’ve given everyone a loophole to sign up later. This is just the latest in a long string of major unilateral Obamacare delays. Speaking of, Politico’s David Nather and Susan Levine have compiled a handy-dandy timeline of some of the law’s most prominent delays: March 25: Final enrollment deadline extended. The March 31 deadline — the end of enrollment for 2014 — will be loosened for people with special sign-up circumstances. March 14: High risk pools extended. The special, temporary coverage for people with serious pre-existing conditions — which was only supposed to last until the health insurance exchanges were in place — was extended a third time for another month. Feb. 10: Employer mandate delayed. This time, businesses with between 50 and 100 workers were given until 2016 to offer coverage, and the mandate will be phased in for employers with more than 100 workers. Jan. 14: High risk pools extended. The high-risk insurance pools, which originally had been slated to close Jan. 1, had already been extended once. Dec. 24: Enrollment deadline extended. In a message on HealthCare.gov, customers were told they could get help finishing their Jan. 1 applications if they were already in line on Dec. 24. Dec 12: Enrollment deadline extended. Customers on the federal enrollment website were given nearly two more weeks to sign up for coverage effective Jan. 1. Nov. 27: SHOP delayed. Online enrollment for the federal health insurance exchanges for small businesses was delayed. Nov. 21: Open enrollment delayed for 2015. The administration pushed back next year’s enrollment season by a month. July 2: Employer mandate delayed. The administration declared that it wouldn’t enforce the fines in 2014 for businesses with more than 50 full-time workers who don’t offer health coverage. The fines were pushed back to 2015. Nov. 15, 2012: Exchange deadline delayed. The Department of Health and Human Services gave states an extra month to decide whether they would set up their own health insurance exchanges — a decision they announced just one day before the original deadline. Clearly, lawful deadlines mean nothing to the Obama administration. - See more at: americanlibertypac/#sthash.Ua8SDpof.dpuf
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:20:02 +0000
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