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 The shift to early January from the end of December provides a
short grace period for insurers and shoppers to work through any
errors in the new policies caused by technology problems dogging
enrollment since it opened on Oct. 1.
Industry consultants say the payment extensions could pick up pace
across the United States before the Dec. 23 deadline to sign up
for insurance that takes effect on Jan. 1. The Obama
administration could face a new crisis over the healthcare law
should a significant number of consumers discover that their
preferred insurer does not have a record of their new policy.
Aetna Inc, which is selling health insurance on exchanges, or
marketplaces, in more than a dozen states, will allow consumers to
pay premiums as late as Jan. 8. The Connecticut exchange, Access
Health CT, said some shoppers can pay as late as Jan. 7. The
Vermont exchange and Covered California have announced similar
extensions while Maryland requires payment by Jan. 15.
Cristine Vogel, a Navigant Consulting associate director who has
health insurers and providers as clients, said that the grace period
is a way for insurers to keep their members at a time when confusion
about coverage is expected.
"Once one of the larger plans come out and say that, then all of the
plans will probably follow," Vogel said.
Some of these stop-gap plans for payment followed the government's
decision to move the sign-up deadline for January benefits to
Dec. 23 from Dec. 15, leaving less time for insurers to
receive and process details on new members. Insurers and exchanges
had planned on payment being made by December 31.
The extra week also gives Aetna and others time to sort out who has
signed up through the online exchanges that were established by the
2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called
Obamacare, to extend medical insurance to millions more people.
Technical problems on the federal HealthCare.gov website for 36
states and several of the 14 state-run exchanges has hampered
sign-ups. On Wednesday, the government said 365,000 people enrolled
in October and November, but insurers expect enrollment to increase
in the next two weeks, adding to technology problems.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that the
government is relying on manual back-up systems to correct computer
errors that could leave some enrollees uninsured.
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RACE AGAINST TIME
For people who sign up late in December, it is still not clear that
insurers will have enough time to verify their information, send out
enrollment kits, receive payment and send insurance cards.
UnitedHealth Group said that it requires payment before January 1.
Health Care Service Corp, which runs Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in
five states, also requires payment beforehand. Cigna has added a team
trained to resolve issues for new enrollees after Jan. 1.
Aetna said that it is still having issues collecting data from
HealthCare.gov. Spokeswoman Cynthia Michener said that it reports
problems to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),
which runs the site, and seeks the information from the agency.
If an individual calls to confirm enrollment and it has no record of
that person, the company also contacts CMS to reconcile the
information. Aetna sends consumers a letter when their information
is received.
Members who do not receive ID cards in the mail soon enough can find
an image of their ID card on the Aetna mobile site or print out a
temporary ID card, Michener said.
In Connecticut, Access Health CT Chief Executive Kevin Counihan said
it plans to load the consumer's data, known as 834 files, onto a
server immediately after Dec. 23 so insurers can access those
files promptly. He said he has been preparing for a tripling of
volume in December.
Molina Healthcare Co, a Medicaid provider that is offering plans in
nine states, is keeping expectations low about exactly how much is
done by January.
"I don't expect the data to be perfect. What I want is to have the
information in the database in some form, so that if they go for
services and somebody queries our database, they show up," Chief
Executive Officer J. Mario Molina said.
(Editing by Michele Gershberg and Grant McCool)
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