Obamacare Signup Deadline May Be Delayed After All

The Obama administration may have to delay the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act after all, according to a new MarketWatch report.

Though the Obamacare mandate more or less went into effect weeks ago (web issues notwithstanding), it has been pretty well-established that Republicans in Congress want it pushed back yet again. It was a central issue during the government shutdown, and one Obama and Co. refused to budge on.

Problem is, they might have to, and not because of GOP pressure.

Though the ACA requires that most Americans enroll and obtain a health insurance plan by January 1, 2014, it allows for “short coverage gaps” of up to three months before the penalty hits. This means that most individuals will need to be covered by March 31. This is the last day you can purchase insurance from the exchange website created by the ACA.

However, the new health policies take effect on the first day of each month. So in order to be covered by the 31st, people actually need to make sure they’re covered by March 1. Due to the average length of time it takes insurance applications to be processed, that date gets pushed back again to February 15.

Of course, you can avoid all of that by signing up by December 15, if you want insurance by January 1.

In case you’re not seeing it, there’s a bit of a “disconnect” between the actual and effective deadlines, and the Obama administration has admitted as much. As it stands, the deadline to get health insurance in time to avoid the penalty is six weeks earlier than the final deadline to purchase a plan.

The Obama administration is currently working on a revision of the policy to heal this dichotomy, and an announcement on it is expected this week.

Another possible point of contention is whether people who purchase health coverage late in the enrollment period would be exempt from the penalty. So, if you wait all the way to March 31, legally within the enrollment period, to buy insurance, will you be hit with the monthly cost of your plan as well as the penalty? The Department of Health and Human Services has also not laid down a date by which individuals would need to buy coverage to dodge the penalty.

The report makes another strange implication, as well:

“There is another sign that the penalty policy may be in flux: While HHS referred MarketWatch’s previous inquiries about the fine, and the deadline to avoid it, to the Treasury, a spokesperson there referred a request Wednesday back to HHS, suggesting that the health officials are now the ones writing new rules for the law.”

Do you think that legal and technical issues will be resolved quickly, or will the Obamacare mandate face delay after all?

[Image: Shutterstock]