March 27, 2014

White House Delays ‘Firm’ Obamacare Enrollment Deadline

The White House now claims Obamacare sign-ups have hit six million. There are still big questions remaining: how many people have paid their first month’s premium; how old are they; and did they already have insurance?

As an indication the Obama administration may lack confidence in its numbers, the delays keep coming. On Wednesday, March 12, HHS Secretary Sebelius told the House Ways and Means Committee that there would be no more Obamacare delays. The administration resolutely vowed the health care law’s enrollment deadline was “firm.” With the March 31 deadline looming, and the Obama administration facing tough scrutiny about its inflated enrollment numbers, some wondered if – in a complete panic – HHS would delay the exchange open enrollment period because not enough people were signing up.

Late Tuesday evening, March 25, the Washington Post reported that the Obama administration planned to do exactly that, extending the deadline for some people to sign up for health insurance in the federal exchange. The next day, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released guidance loosely describing its plans. The guidance outlines various scenarios to explain how people will be given additional time to finish the application and enrollment process.

People having trouble signing up for coverage on HealthCare.gov can just check a blue box saying they tried to enroll before the deadline. Just like that, they qualify for an immediate extension until at least mid-April, no questions asked. The Obama administration will rely on the honor system. This process is called “self-attestation.” Many state based exchanges are already contemplating similar enrollment changes.

Some suggest administration officials fear the Obamacare website will freeze if an enrollment surge occurs during the next five days. But the administration already declared that HealthCare.gov is fixed. If the website is working as it should, why issue another delay at 9 p.m. on a Tuesday night?

More important, however, is whether the administration has the legal authority to extend Obamacare’s enrollment deadline in the first place. On March 11, a CMS spokeswoman told reporters, “We don’t actually have the statutory authority to extend the open enrollment period in 2014.” One day later, at the Ways and Means Committee hearing, Sebelius issued her firm denial that she would be extending the enrollment deadline.

Later in her committee testimony, Sebelius offered this caveat: “We have made it clear that if, through no fault of their own, they were unable to enroll, that eligibility extends to a delayed enrollment period, and they will have a special enrollment period we have the authority to grant.” Remember that HHS has already issued regulations and follow-up guidance setting up the parameters a person must meet in order to get a hardship exemption or special enrollment period exception.

So how can the administration first say that it has no statutory authority to change the open enrollment period, yet create such a wide-sweeping loophole? One thing is certain. The administration has shown through its multiple delays and unilateral changes that it doesn’t want to fully implement unpopular parts of the health care law – at least not until after the November elections.

Health Care Headlines

The Hill: “Insurers tire of ‘frenemy’ White House” The health insurance industry can’t wait for ObamaCare’s first enrollment season to be over so that it can have a break from dealing with the White House, sources on K Street say. Insurers feel that the administration has taken advantage of them by making repeated delays and changes to the law, even as they have gone above and beyond the call of duty to fix problems with the rollout.

Wall Street Journal Opinion: “ObamaCare Delay Number 38” Liberals say they believe in a living Constitution, and apparently they think the Affordable Care Act is a living document too. Amid one more last-minute regulatory delay, number 38 at last count, the mandate forcing nuns to sponsor birth control is more or less the only part of ObamaCare that is still intact.

Washington Post: “Obama administration will allow more time to enroll in healthcare on federal marketplace” The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline. 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.

Reuters: “Insurers see double digit Obamacare price rises in many states next year” U.S. consumers eligible for Obamacare health plans could see double-digit price hikes next year in states that fail to draw large numbers of enrollees for 2014, according to insurance industry officials and analysts.

New York Times: “Arguments Against Health Law Subsidies Gain Traction” Two of the three federal judges hearing a challenge to the Affordable Care Act appeared open to the argument that people buying health insurance in the federal marketplace should not be eligible for tax subsidies, the first indication that the White House could be facing another potentially serious legal challenge to a central part of President Obama’s health care law. The judges’ comments came at a hearing in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Issue Tag: Health Care