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Tag: healthcare reform legislation
Help Offered For People Who Miss Obamacare Deadline

Help Offered For People Who Miss Obamacare Deadline

Washington (AFP) – The U.S. government Tuesday offered help for people who were unable to sign up for health insurance through the federal website by the deadline as part of the president’s controversial health care reform legislation.

The deadline for enrolling in policies that start on January 1 had already been repeatedly delayed and was last fixed at midnight on Tuesday, after problems with the web site hindered the process.

But now, Health and Human Services, which administers the program, said if anyone failed to finish their enrollment by that time, they could still get a policy for the new year.

“Sometimes despite your best efforts, you might have run into delays caused by heavy traffic to HealthCare.gov, maintenance periods, or other issues,” read a message on the site.

If you couldn’t get enrolled in time, it said, “don’t worry – we still may be able to help you get covered as soon as January 1.”

It provided customer service numbers and told consumers to “tell our customer service representative that you’ve been trying to enroll and explain why you couldn’t finish by the deadline.

“They can tell you what you can do to finish your enrollment and still get covered for 2014.”

The Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s top domestic achievement to date, is designed to offer insurance to millions of Americans who have never been able to secure it before — some because of pre-existing health conditions like heart disease that insurers were unwilling to cover.

Failure to sign up for adequate coverage by March 31 could result in a fine under the new law.

Obama told reporters on Friday at a year-end press conference that more than a million American had chosen new insurance plans using the new health care system.

But the litany of problems with the government website, healthcare.gov, has played into the hands of Republicans, who say the federal government has no business intervening in the private health care market and should not be dictating health choices to Americans.

AFP Photo/Joe Raedle

Obama Symbolically Signs Up For Obamacare

Obama Symbolically Signs Up For Obamacare

Washington (AFP) – U.S. President Barack Obama has symbolically signed up for health insurance to promote his own controversial health care reform legislation, a White House official said Monday.

The official said Obama — on vacation with his family in Hawaii for the holidays — signed up over the weekend for “a health care plan made available by the Affordable Care Act on the D.C. marketplace.”

The gesture was a “symbolic” one, the official said on condition of anonymity, as Obama receives health care from the military, as all presidents do. He also has a White House medical team at his disposal.

“But he was pleased to participate in a plan as a show of support for these marketplaces, which are providing quality, affordable health care options to more than a million people,” the official said.

The Affordable Care Act, Obama’s top domestic achievement to date, is designed to offer insurance to millions of Americans who have never been able to secure it before — some because of pre-existing health conditions like heart disease that insurers were unwilling to cover.

But a litany of problems with the government website, healthcare.gov, has played into the hands of Republicans, who say the federal government has no business intervening in the private health care market and should not be dictating health choices to Americans.

Obama told reporters on Friday at a year-end press conference that more than a million American had chosen new insurance plans using the new health care system.

The announcement about Obama’s symbolic sign-up came on the day a deadline was meant to pass for people signing up for plans beginning January 1.

But the government extended the deadline by 24 hours, until late Tuesday, to avoid a crush of users on the website and possible problems, an administration official told AFP.

“We have programmed our systems to support January 1 coverage for those who attempt to complete their enrollment through the end of the day tomorrow,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

A spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Julie Bataille, said: “We recognize that many have chosen to make their final decisions on today’s deadline and we are committed to making sure they can do so.”

But despite the extension, Bataille urged people to “try to sign up today,” saying: “You should not wait until tomorrow.”

AFP Photo/Karen Bleier