New wrinkle: Deadline to avoid health law fines will
fall around Valentinefs Day, not March 31
By Associated Press, October 10, 2013 - The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Youfll have to get coverage by Valentinefs Day or thereabouts to
avoid penalties for being uninsured, the Obama administration confirmed
Wednesday.
Thatfs about six weeks earlier than a March 31 deadline often cited
previously.
The explanation: health insurance coverage typically starts on the first day
of a given month, and it takes up to 15 days to process applications.
You still have to be covered by March 31 to avoid the new penalties for
remaining uninsured. But to successfully accomplish that you have to send in
your application by the middle of February. Coverage would then start on Mar.
1.
The Jackson Hewitt tax preparation company first pointed out the wrinkle with
the health care lawfs least popular requirement.
An administration official confirmed it. The official was not authorized to
speak publicly and insisted on anonymity.
Itfs the latest bit of confusion involving complex requirements of President
Barack Obamafs health care law, known as the Affordable Care Act.
Adjustments to the law have ranged from the momentous to the mundane. The
biggest one was a one-year delay of a requirement that larger employers offer
coverage, announced this summer. More recently, the administration has postponed
some Spanish-language capabilities of its enrollment website, as well as full
functionality on the site small businesses use to sign up.
Brian Haile, senior vice president for health policy at Jackson Hewitt, said
government agencies initially had different interpretations of the enrollment
deadline. The Health and Human Services department, which is taking the lead in
implementing the law, kept referring to a March 31 deadline. But the Internal
Revenue Service, which handles most of the financial aspects, suggested that the
deadline had to be in February.
gThere were inconsistencies,h said Haile, adding it took several inquiries by
Jackson Hewitt over the last few weeks to clear up the uncertainty.
The health care law was designed to cover the uninsured through a mix of
government-subsidized private insurance and a major expansion of the Medicaid
safety net program.
The rollout of online insurance markets this month has been snarled by
technical glitches that frustrated many consumers. Meanwhile, House Republicans
are still pressing their demand for a delay of gObamacareh provisions, if not
its total repeal, as a condition for lifting the partial government shutdown now
in its second week.
Starting next year, the law requires virtually all Americans to have
insurance or face a tax penalty, triggered after a coverage gap of three months.
The penalty starts as low as $95 for 2014, but escalates in subsequent years.
There are exemptions for financial hardship and other defined circumstances.
The purpose of the penalty is to nudge as many people as possible into the
insurance pool. That would help keep premiums in check, since the law also
forbids insurers from turning away people with health problems.
Haile said an earlier enrollment deadline around Valentinefs Day may turn out
to be a blessing in disguise for the administration, because it creates a
natural opportunity to market to young, healthy people, whose premiums are
needed to offset medical costs of older generations.
gWhen thinking about how to attract young people, a Valentinefs Day message
may be very salient,h he said.
The administration says the deadline is actually Feb. 15, the day after
Valentinefs Day.
Thatfs close enough that the government might be able to make the pitch
work.
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