Originally, people enrolled in health plans set to take effect Jan. 1 were required to pay their first premiums by Dec. 23, 2013. However, in mid-December, federal officials pushed back the deadline to Dec. 31. Shortly afterward, America’s Health Insurance Plans announced insurers selling policies through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges had extended the deadline even further to Jan. 10.
Now, a number of insurers selling policies through both the state-run and federal exchanges have pushed back that deadline once again to give consumers more time to make their first premium payments. Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Texas, Illinois, Montana, New Mexico and Oklahoma — all part of the Chicago-based Health Care Service Corp. chain — have moved the deadline to Jan. 30, according to the report.
Independence Blue Cross Blue Shield, based in Philadelphia, has also moved its deadline to Jan. 28. Additionally, health insurer WellPoint has moved its first premium deadline to Jan. 15. California’s state-run exchange, Covered California, has also moved its deadline to Jan. 15 to remedy the rush of people looking to pay their invoices, according to the report.
The Obama administration’s original premium deadline extension was one of numerous last-minute policy changes made to the PPACA’s implementation. Other alterations included delaying the 2015 enrollment period, postponing 2014 enrollment deadline extensions and allowing insurers to extend non-PPACA-compliant health plans.
More Articles on PPACA Health Plans:
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