GIZMODO- Eve Peyser- 12.16.16- 11:27pm
On Thursday night, federal regulators announced that they were extending the midnight deadline to sign up for health insurance starting January 1, 2017 through the Affordable Care Act on Healthcare.gov.
The deadline has been extended four days to December 19.
39 states use Healthcare.gov as their health insurance marketplace. (The states that do not use Healthcare.gov are California, Connecticut, Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state, and Washington D.C.) Officials attributed the deadline extension to the “extraordinary volume of consumers” trying to sign up for health insurance.
Healthcare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan said that many consumers were asked to wait before signing up for health insurance both online and over the phone. “Nearly a million consumers have left their contact information to hold their place in line,” he said in a statement late Thursday night. “Our goal is to provide affordable coverage to everyone seeking it before the deadline, and these two additional business days will give consumers an opportunity to come back and complete their enrollment for January 1 coverage.”
Connecticut and New York also extended their healthcare sign-up deadlines today, and California did so yesterday.
The updated deadlines for health insurance sign-up, by state:
Colorado, District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont: Thursday December 15
Healthcare.gov states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming):Monday December 19
California, Connecticut, New York: Saturday December 17
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Washington State: Friday December 23
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