People face Monday deadline to pick health policy

The Affordable Care Act's online health-insurance marketplace opened to the public half a year ago, and individuals now have less than a week to enroll in an insurance plan using the exchange.

More than 4.2 million Americans have signed up for health-insurance plans through the marketplace, and more are expected to enroll as the nation closes in on the Monday deadline, according to a recent news release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About 943,000 of those enrollees enrolled during February.

After technical difficulties the exchange faced during its initial rollout, local navigator Jackie Dover with Aging Matters said its navigators had much more success enrolling individuals since the beginning of the year and are able to do it faster and easier.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reported there are more than 800,000 nonelderly uninsured individuals in Missouri eligible for coverage through the Affordable Care Act.

After Monday, the next open enrollment period does not begin until Nov. 15 and will remain open until Feb. 15, Dover said. Until then, navigators will remain busy with continued education and working with individuals who can enroll because of special circumstances.

According to Gina Harper, a certified application counselor and navigator with the East Missouri Action Agency, the only way an individual can enroll for insurance using the marketplace after the Monday deadline is during a special enrollment period after a life-changing event, such as a marriage, divorce, the birth of a child or switching employers.

Special enrollment periods for life changes come standard with insurance offered through an employer, but the HHS on Wednesday posted two documents outlining special enrollment periods for groups of people still trying to enroll through the marketplace, The Associated Press reported.

Those who began an application but didn't finish before the deadline would be allowed a limited time period to sign up for coverage that would take effect May 1, the AP reported. People with 10 general categories of "special" circumstances, including natural disasters, system errors related to immigration status and computer error messages because of technical difficulties, would receive up to an extra 60 days to apply.

"We won't close the door on those who tried to get covered and were not able to do so through no fault of their own," said Julie Bataille, communications director for the health-care rollout, in the AP report.

During the months between the open enrollment periods, navigators' jobs will be to "help those with [special enrollment period] circumstances and to help those who have already registered before the deadline if they have changes to their application," such as income status or children moving out of the home, Harper said in an email.

Though the first enrollment period is nearly finished, there is "still education to be done," Dover said, but it won't be on such a "hairy basis" as it was this time around.

The East Missouri Action Agency will continue hosting educational events focused on what people can expect during the 2015 insurance enrollment period, as well as educating small businesses, Harper said.

So far, there has been no information shared on potential changes to the enrollment process to take effect during the next enrollment period, Dover and Harper said.

Aging Matters is compiling the number of people the team of navigators has enrolled, Dover said. A final number of enrollees was not available Wednesday.

ashedd@semissourian.com

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