On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services released a set of “additional steps” designed to “help” Americans get health insurance before the start of the new year. Philip Klein discusses those guidelines over at the Washington Examiner, reporting that HHS is “encouraging” health insurers to accept late and partial payments for insurance plans for the month of January. 

“It is requiring insurers to accept payments until Dec. 31 for coverage starting on Jan. 1,” Klein writes. “It is also ‘urging’ insurers to give individuals more time beyond that to pay for coverage. In other words, if somebody pays for coverage in the middle of January, HHS is asking insurers to retroactively make that person’s coverage effective as of Jan. 1. HHS is also asking insurers to cover individuals who offer a ‘down payment,’ even if that payment only covers part of the first month’s premiums.”