Now that Obamacare enrollment is mostly over, calls are multiplying for the Obama administration to let more people enroll in health coverage outside the normal signup window.
Some Democrats and advocates for the Affordable Care Act are saying people who face a fine this year because they lack insurance should be allowed to sign up for coverage all the way until Tax Day on April 15 to avoid a penalty in 2016.
And now one group that has worked to publicize the law’s coverage provisions — dubbed the Young Invincibles — is asking the administration to allow pregnant women to enroll in the insurance marketplaces year-round.
In a report released Wednesday, the group detailed the challenges a pregnant woman can face if she’s uninsured. Giving birth in a hospital typically costs between $10,000 and $20,000. And without care, women face greater risk of serious complications like preeclampsia or placental abruption.
Maternity care is among the benefits insurers are required to cover under the Affordable Care Act. But right now, pregnancy isn’t on a list of reasons people may enroll in the insurance marketplaces throughout the year.
“Women who find themselves pregnant and uninsured or with a plan that does not cover maternity care should have the same opportunity to access comprehensive coverage through the marketplaces,” the Young Invincibles report says.
Private insurers typically don’t let pregnant women enroll in health coverage year-round because of a problem known as adverse selection, in which higher-cost patients wait to buy health coverage until they have an expensive medical condition.
But Young Invincibles contends that problem is lessening for insurers. That’s because the pool of women without maternity coverage keeps decreasing as more people gain coverage under the law, the group says.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who said last week she’ll announce a final decision on special enrollment periods by the end of February, hasn’t said whether pregnancy will be on the list.
This year’s enrollment season lasted from Nov. 15 to Feb. 15. If people want to sign up for coverage in the health exchanges before the next enrollment period begins Oct. 15, they must have experienced certain life changes, like having a baby, getting married or divorced or gaining citizenship.
In November, the administration proposed some changes to that list, including extending special enrollment to people who are moving to a new area or who experience a change in income but can’t sign up for Medicaid because their state hasn’t expanded the program.
One change it didn’t suggest: Letting uninsured people keep enrolling throughout the tax-filing season. Some liberal groups, including Families USA, asked the administration for that change last year to ensure people a chance to sign up for people who discover they’d face a penalty the following year for lacking coverage.
But now more on the Left are joining in, including a number of Democratic senators in both the House and Senate. Tim Jost, a professor at Washington and Lee University who’s a leading proponent of the law, wrote a blog post this week calling for a Tax Day extension.
And Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, reiterated his call for longer enrollment for those facing a fine.
“A huge number of people are still unaware about the need to obtain health insurance to avoid a significant tax penalty,” Pollack said. “As more and more people learn about this as they prepare their tax returns, they should be given the opportunity to enroll in health coverage.”
