administration sees unprecedented demand ahead of obamacare deadline : Tue, 15 Dec 2015 16:33:43 +0000 - Obamacare is selling like hotcakes, the administration says, with today the deadline to enroll in plans set to take effect on January 1. A surge of callers temporarily overwhelmed the government’s capacity to enroll consumers on Monday, prompting officials to record telephone numbers so they could return calls later to arrange for coverage. Federal officials said that people stuck waiting would be given a brief special enrollment period so they could complete their applications and select health plans after Dec. 15, but still get coverage in January. “We are seeing unprecedented demand,†said Lori Lodes, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the federal insurance marketplace. […] Andrew M. Slavitt, the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs the federal marketplace, said that HealthCare.gov was handling “record traffic†on Monday, with 178,000 people using the site at 2:30 p.m., higher than the number of users at any other point this year or last year. Enrollment will remain open until January 31 for plans taking effect in the first months of 2016. The tax penalty for not having insurance increases to $695 per adult or more, though there are exemptions available for a variety of reasons, mostly financial. You can sign up at HealthCare.gov, your state exchange if it’s not using the federal one, or call the federal marketplace at 800-318-2596.
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