Glitches may mean that certain insurance policies will not become active as scheduled
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced that many people that have signed up for health insurance coverage through the federal HealthCare.gov portal may not actually be covered when the New Year starts. People throughout the U.S. have been trying to sign up for coverage through the federal insurance exchange but have been unable to due to technical problems. While the federal government is busy working to resolve these issues, those that did manage to acquire coverage through the exchange network may find that their coverage will not go active on January 1, 2014.
25% of consumers may have their policies go active later than January 2014
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, some 25% of those that successfully signed up for health insurance coverage through HealthCare.gov will not have their coverage go active in January of 2014. This may be due to the glitches that have crippled the federal exchange, but federal officials suggest that consumers making mistakes may also be a part of the issue.
Lack of awareness among consumers could cause some issues
Glitches may have kept people from signing up for coverage correctly, but a general lack of understanding regarding how exchanges work may have caused problems as well. Health insurance has become a complex issue for many in the U.S. The new regulations that have been introduced through the Affordable Care Act have proven difficult for companies and consumers to navigate. The confusion that the federal law has caused may have made it difficult for consumers to make use of the federal exchange appropriately.
Time remains to apply for health insurance coverage
According to the Affordable Care Act, all U.S. citizens must have active health insurance coverage beginning January 1, 2014. Those without active coverage could face financial penalties, but these penalties are not likely to be issued until March of 2014, at the earliest. People still have time to apply for coverage through the federal exchange network or through state-run health insurance exchanges, but ongoing technical issues may continue being a problem for many people.
