Dive Brief:
- The Obama administration on Friday announced that Americans will have another chance to buy insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act between March 15 and April 30.
- Obamacare's original open enrollment period closed on February 15 (although many states have offered various extensions in the wake of some last-minute technical difficulties with Healthcare.gov).
- The newly-announced special enrollment period is meant to give Americans who didn't know about the individual mandate's minimum coverage tax penalty a chance to purchase coverage rather than pay a fine.
Dive Insight:
The administration has estimated that about 6 million Americans would have to pay a fine for lacking minimum coverage in 2014. A special enrollment period was widely expected since this is the first tax season when consumers will be hit with potential penalties (which will grow larger in size over the next several years).
The question is: Will this become a permanent tax-time fixture? Or will it only be used until the fine hits its upper bound and taxpayers become increasingly aware of the penalty?
HHS also announced on Friday that the administration sent 800,000 Healthcare.gov users incorrect tax and subsidy information, and that these consumers are being contacted by the administration to straighten out the issue. About 50,000 of these people have reportedly already filed their taxes.