Bruce Japsen, Contributor
I write about health care and policies from the president's hometown
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PHARMA & HEALTHCARE
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1/11/2014 @ 8:59AM |6,239 views
Even More Time For ObamaCare Customers To Pay Premiums
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A parade of health insurance companies this week once again extended the ability of new enrollees to pay their first month’s premium until later this month for those who signed up for individual policies under the Affordable Care Act.
Health insurance companies, dealing with incomplete enrollments of customers who signed up for health insurance late last year under the Affordable Care Act, are extended deadlines for customers to pay premiums until later this month. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Some health plans originally were anticipating payments prior to the beginning of coverage on Jan. 1, but the disastrous rollout of thehealthcare.gov web site, which had myriad technical issues in October and much of November slowed the enrollment process.
Once fixed in December, the website caused a rush of people signing up just before a Christmas Eve deadline for coverage that would begin this month. The Obama administration has said more than two million people picked health insurance plans via government marketplaces known as exchanges, but an undisclosed number of those customers haven’t completed their enrollments or paid.
Most health plans originally extended payment of the first month’s premium to Jan. 10, a voluntary deadline established by the largest health insurance lobby, America’s Health Insurance Plans, which includes Aetna AET -0.52% (AET), Cigna CI -0.93% (CI),Humana HUM -2.05% (HUM) and UnitedHealth GroupUNH -1.81% (UNH) and many Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans as members.
Now payment deadlines are in some cases being extended until the end of the month. Health Care Service Corp., parent of Blue Cross plans in Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Montana, said it would allow newly enrolled customers to pay up until Jan. 30.
“We believe this action is consistent with our overall mission because it demonstrates our strong commitment to standing with our members by providing these new customers with peace of mind about their health coverage during this important time of transition,” Health Care Service Corp said in a statement. “We are announcing that customers with a Jan. 1 effective date will now have until Jan. 30 to pay their first month’s insurance premium. It’s important to note that customers must pay their first month’s premium before coverage for medical benefits begins.”
Health Care Service Corp. said it added 700 additional call center representatives and expanded hours to help new enrollees.
Several health plans, included Aetna, which had a payment deadline of Jan. 10, extended the payment deadline to Jan. 14 and Aetna subsidiary Coventry gave its customers until Jan. 17. Meanwhile, Humana extended its earlier deadline to Jan. 31.
HealthPass, a New York-based private exchange that provides health coverage to small businesses in 14 Down State counties of New York and all of New York City, said its partnering carriers, acknowledging the “sweeping market changes” granted “an extension of HealthPass’ new business deadline until January 8 for coverage retroactive to January 1,” the company said.
“From a payment standpoint, the application standards did remain, even with the new business extension, and immediate payment was required to accompany a group’s application,” HealthPass chief executive Vince Ashton said. “This was essential in order to ensure that the revenue flow was not disrupted and that our shared partnership was equally beneficial.”