Procrastinators Sign Up For Subsidized Health Insurance As Open Enrollment Deadline Arrives
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Today is the final day of open enrollment in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act for this year, and health officials and insurers were prepared for what they expected to be a last-minute surge of sign-ups.
Independence Blue Cross was ready for the serious procrastinators -- opening and staffing its lobby for final-day sign-ups and keeping its help line open till 10 p.m.
Consumer marketing director Koleen Cavanaugh says that's the thing with deadlines -- they work:
"The deadline is definitely resonating with people. We've seen a lot of traffic, people are calling our call center and our enrollment traffic is up one and a half times over last week."
The enrollment period opened November 15th, so why were there still people signing up on the last day?
"No reason, y'know, procrastinate...."
"I had no choice, today is the deadline so I showed up."
"Just general procrastination, I guess there's no reason for that, so coming down here today, it was easy, it was painless."
These are among the half dozen or so people who sought help at Independence Blue Cross headquarters in Center City. Larry arrived for help 11 hours before the three-month enrollment period closed, but says he was pleased with the results:
"The gentleman here, he made it pretty easy. You know he had to give me information that I didn't know so it was kind of easy."
A warning for uninsured procrastinators who don't like easy-listenin' hold music -- you are going to hear a lot of it today if you call the federal exchange for help enrolling in a health care plan. But federal officials urge you to stay on the line because if you miss the midnight deadline, you won't be able to sign up for subsidized coverage until November, and you may end up owing a penalty on your taxes for remaining uninsured, unless you have some life-changing event that qualifies you for special enrollment.
Also, low-income uninsured people, seeking to enroll in Pennsylvania's newly-expanded medicaid program can sign up any time.
The Blue Cross helpline is open until 10 p.m. and the federal helpline is open until midnight. Federal officials say anyone who has started, but not completed, an application on healthcare.gov by midnight will be permitted to finish it. Officials say, nationally, they're expecting more than ten million people will have signed up before the day ends.
