President Donald Trump’s administration did not want to extend the ObamaCare sign-up period amid the last-minute surge of enrollees, a break with the practice under the Obama administration, The Hill reports.
The enrollment period ended Friday at midnight and the previous administration had a practice to extend the deadline for a few days in order to accommodate the high number of enrollees who wait until the last minute, but the new administration did not want to do that.
During the day the officials did not want to say whether they would extend the period, but on Friday night the statement was posted on Twitter. The official healthcare.gov account wrote that there will be no extension of the sign-up period.
For people who called the call center before the deadline and could not get through, though, there is a grace period where a representative will call them back after the deadline and they can still enroll. That practice is consistent with that of the previous administration.
Democrats in the Congress pushed for extension of the enrollment period. They wanted not only a few days, but they asked the enrollment to last until January 31. That way, the period when people could sign-up would last as long as the previous years. This year the period was about half as long. The Trump administration cut back on outreach funding, which is why experts expect fewer sign-ups this year. The final number is not yet available.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees ObamaCare, did not want to elaborate on the Trump administration’s decision.
Be the first to comment