The Obama administration is ready to play hardball with health insurance dodgers. In addition to raising the penalty for those who don't buy coverage, the administration will not be offering a second sign-up period for those who forget to purchase a plan during the open enrollment period going on now.
This year, the administration offered people a six-week extension from the original Feb. 15 deadline to enroll.
But Kevin Counihan, the CEO of Healthcare.gov, said the Jan. 31 deadline set for next year is actually a deadline, not just a suggestion.
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"If you don't enroll by then, you could have to wait another year to get coverage and may have to pay the fee when you file your 2016 income taxes," he wrote in a blog post on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' website.
Skeptics of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have long suggested that the plans offered on exchanges simply aren't a good enough deal for young, healthy people being targeted for enrollment. Supporters of the PPACA obviously disagree, but acknowledge that it is difficult to convince young people who don't anticipate major health care costs to sign up for a plan, even if they are eligible for subsidies that dramatically reduce their cost.
Getting those who still haven't enrolled to sign up apparently requires harder tactics, the administration has calculated. It has announced that the penalty for lacking insurance will now cost more than many of the plans available on the exchanges.
And yet, fee exemptions are still available for certain people, said Counihan.
"People with very low incomes and individuals who meet other specific conditions can receive an exemption from the requirement to have health insurance and will not have to pay the fee," he wrote, directing readers to a tool that can help them figure out whether they qualify for an exemption.
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