Even though the Trump administration compressed the normal three-month enrollment period into just 45 days, as of last week, nearly 4.7 million people have signed up for a health plan through HealthCare.gov, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Here in Florida, more than 800,000 have signed up for coverage.
While the final enrollment deadline for most states is this Friday, Dec. 15, thanks to a special extension granted because of our awful hurricane season, Florida residents actually have until Dec. 31 to get covered.
According to an advisory from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Dec. 16-31 special enrollment period is available for anyone “residing in or moving from areas affected by a hurricane-related weather event in 2017,” which includes all of Florida’s 67 counties.
But be warned!
After Dec. 15, you will no longer be allowed to just log onto Healthcare.gov and select a plan; you’ll actually have to pick up the phone and call the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Marketplace at 1-800-318-2596 “to request enrollment.”
Expect one hell of a call wait time.
This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2017.
