Open enrollment for the third year of the Affordable Care Act is ongoing, but at least one deadline has already passed.
If you want health insurance through the Affordable Care Act to start in January but you haven't signed up or renewed, you're too late. Even though the federal government extended its deadline for the federal exchange, Tuesday was the deadline to sign up for coverage in Connecticut to begin January 1. Jim Wadleigh, the head of Access Health CT, said he expects a lot of people to be surprised when their coverage lapses next month.
"We're going to see a busy January again because these customers are undoubtedly going to come in and realize that their insurance has fallen off and then they'll start calling or coming into our storefront and re-enrolling online," Wadleigh said. "And we'll continue to see another surge all the way up to January 31."
Wadleigh also says that more than 2,000 people could lose their federal subsidy to help pay for their insurance. That's because they haven't yet finished their 2014 taxes. No taxes, no subsidy.
"The law says you have to reconcile your taxes taxes in order to qualify for future year tax credits," he said. "What I can say is, those customers will get bills that are probably going to be eye popping because they will have lost their financial help."
Open enrollment ends January 31 for coverage.
