Months ago, the public exchanges said they'd require consumers who wanted coverage to start Jan. 1 to sign up by Dec.15.
Then the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began announcing a series of January coverage deadline delays for its exchanges.
Managers of state-based exchanges then began announcing delays of their own.
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This week, just about the only way for a consumer to find out when a specific state's deadline really was to haunt Twitter and Facebook and dig around on the state's enrollment website.
At HealthCare.gov, officials moved the enrollment deadline to Dec. 23, then made Dec. 23 the plan selection deadline and Dec. 31 the payment deadline.
Carriers then voluntarily agreed to let all federal and state exchange users who chose plans by Dec. 23 take until Jan. 10 to pay
The Washington Post discovered Monday that HHS had quietly moved the actual drop-dead deadline to Tuesday.
HealthCare.gov now gives consumers a notice that customer service representatives may still be able to get coverage in place by Jan. 1 for those who've been trying to enroll but haven't been able to because of system problems.
Some state-based exchanges, including those in Kentucky, Connecticut and the District of Columbia, stuck with Dec. 23 as their final plan selection day for coverage starting Jan. 1.
The exchanges in Hawaii and New York also made Tuesday their Jan. 1 coverage plan selection deadline, and the California, Colorado, Maryland and Oregon exchanges made Dec. 27 their deadline.
Some Maryland plans, and the exchanges in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Rhode Island, will let consumers choose plans up until Dec. 31.
Exchange managers are reporting heavy volume, and system delays caused or exacerbated by heavy volume. In California, for example, exchange managers have said consumers may have to call or go to an in-person assistance center to complete enrollment because the Covered California website is overloaded.
Covered California officials say more than 400,000 people have chosen plans through that exchange.
Exchange managers are reporting heavy volume, and system delays caused or exacerbated by heavy volume. In California, for example, exchange managers have said that consumers may have to call or go to an in-person assistance center to complete enrollment because the Covered California website is overloaded.
Covered California officials say more than 400,000 people have chosen plans through that exchange.
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
