The Affordable Care Act has been a tremendous success in increasing the number of people insured, reducing the cost of health care coverage, and eliminating the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage to those who develop medical problems. However it is not surprising that a law of its complexity does get some details wrong. When I first heard that open enrollment would end in mid-February I thought this was a mistake.
Some of those who failed to purchase coverage last year might not realize that they risk paying penalties, and they might not realize this until around April 15 if they wait until the last minute to complete their taxes. If the goal of the mandate is to encourage people to sign up to avoid penalties, enrollment should extend through April 15. That way people could sign up for insurance to avoid the mandate.
I was glad to see that some Democrats have realized this and are working to fix the problem by urging the Obama administration to have a special enrollment period:
Three senior House members told The Associated Press that they plan to strongly urge the administration to grant a special sign-up opportunity for uninsured taxpayers who will be facing fines under the law for the first time this year.
The three are Michigan’s Sander Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, and Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, and Lloyd Doggett of Texas. All worked to help steer Obama’s law through rancorous congressional debates from 2009-2010.
The lawmakers say they are concerned that many of their constituents will find out about the penalties after it’s already too late for them to sign up for coverage, since open enrollment ended Sunday.
That means they could wind up uninsured for another year, only to owe substantially higher fines in 2016. The fines are collected through the income tax system.
This year is the first time ordinary Americans will experience the complicated interactions between the health care law and taxes. Based on congressional analysis, tax preparation giant H&R Block says roughly 4 million uninsured people will pay penalties.
