Just as a sign of what huge hypocrites we are, we just remembered how when Donald Trump was trying to kill Obamacare, we ran a whole bunch of articles tracking when the (reduced) open enrollment period was, and reminding people to also remind friends and family about the deadline. But here we are in the second year of open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act during Joe Biden’s reign of terror, and this is the first such reminder — and today is the darn deadline for folks to sign up at healthcare.gov if they want coverage starting on January 1! Shame on us, pretending we cared when it was endangered and taking it for granted when it isn’t. Oh, and also when it’s been restored to its original sign-up period.
It’s so easy that you don’t even need to choose between “Obamacare” and the “Affordable Care Act”! (That is a little political nerd joke there.)
If folks don’t sign up online by midnight (in their time zones) tonight, they aren’t out of luck; they can still get enrolled until January 15, 2023, in most states, but their coverage wouldn’t start until February. (A few socialist states even let you get January 1 coverage after today, too.) And as ever, people with a major change in their coverage, like losing employer-paid coverage or turning 26 in May, can still sign up any time. But no, you cannot go without insurance until you get diagnosed with Trench Face and then sign up, because that is not how insurance works.
You know what you should do, too, is you should go see this excellent Twitter thread with ACA signup tips by healthcare journo Charles Gaba, who knows this stuff inside out. It even includes all the URLs for states what don’t use the healthcare.gov site, although that site should redirect you automatically.
A few other tips, via Gaba’s thread:
If you have private health insurance that you didn’t get on the ACA exchange because your income was too high, go check to see if you can switch to a less expensive plan that’s on the exchange, because JOE BIDEN MADE OBAMACARE BETTER. The American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act got rid of the top income cap for subsidy eligibility, so millions of people who previously weren’t eligible are now.
Also too, as we mentioned here at Wonkette, the Biden administration fixed the “family glitch” that prevented some family members from getting insurance on the exchange. That means millions more Americans now qualify to put healthcare on their families!
Keep in mind too that Obamacare subsidies now help more people, and while inflation is not good, the subsidies are adjusted for inflation, meaning that more people will get more assistance in paying their premiums. Here is a tweet with a table.
Also also also, lucky duckies in 10 socialist states — Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Joisey, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, and Washington — also get extra premium assistance on top of the federal subsidy. That’s why nobody even lives there anymore! (Gaba has details on the bennies by state too.)
Also too, also and in addition, check out Gaba’s information on Zero-premium “Secret Platinum” plans available to people making less than 200 percent of the Federal poverty rate. It sounds like you’re getting away with something but you aren’t.
If you find all of this a tad overwhelming, fear not, because Congress and the Biden administration brought back full funding for the ACA “Navigator” program, which can help people find the plans that best fit their needs! Navigator signup information by state is at — you guessed it! — Healthcare.gov.
Isn’t Big Government swell?
OPEN THREAD!
[Charles Gaba on Twitter / Kaiser Family Foundation]
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