Shifting the Goal Post...

[exedir]

Sign up deadline for coverage in ObamaCare(also know as, the Affordable Care Act) has been pushed back a week until the eve of Christmas Eve. And the start of individual enrollment for 2015 has been pushed back a month, from October 15th until November 15th, 11 days after the midterm elections.

The point of the shifts is to get the enrollment numbers up, a laudable goal, but as in the move to the December 23rd deadline for January 1st coverage, it is almost impossible for the selected health plans to implement without delays in actual enrollment and coverage. As to the new November 2014 date, this is a delay to collect more actuarial data to rate the plans for 2015 in that what is being actually experienced in the issued plans would have only data from less than nine months, which is probably going to force rating increases for renewals and new enrollees as assumptions and estimates are changed.