Followup on Open Enrollment Period deadline

Wanted to follow up to my communication I sent regarding the Open Enrollment Deadline as it pertains to the Announcement,  per the Feds that Open Enrollment has been extended.

Here is the announcement I received from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS):

 March 26, 2014

As the initial Open Enrollment period for 2014 Marketplace coverage draws to a close, we wanted to alert you to important information regarding consumers who have started, but not completed, their FFM enrollment as of 11:59 PM ET on March 31, 2014.  Please see the attached documents for additional information about consumers who may be “in line” for enrollment as of March 31^st and consumers with "complex cases.” 

Please note this information only pertains to On Exchange Sales.  Off Exchange is still a strict deadline of 3-31 for a May 1^st effective date.  No Off Exchange sales will be processed after 3-31 unless it’s a Special Election Period triggered by a Qualifying Event with documentation of the Qualifying Event included.  

Obamacare Diagnosed in One Sentence by Dr Barbara Bellar

"We are going to be gifted with a healthcare plan that we are forced to purchase, and fined if we don't, which reportedly covers 10 million more people without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman doesn't understand it, passed by Congress that didn't read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a president who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, for which we will be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese and financed by a country that is broke. So what the blank could possibly go wrong?" 

PPACA enrollment deadline changes

The US Dept of Health and Human Services will be giving consumers more time to complete their applications.

HHS and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are not officially changing the March 31st individual period for anyone, but they will make a special enrollment period available to consumers who start the individual QHP (qualified health plan) application process by March 31st and fail to complete the process by that date.

Up until mid-April, a consumer can ask for the application time extension by checking a box on the HealthCare.gov website.
HHS will not be able to verify whether the consumers have really started the application process and will depend on consumers to say whether they have or not, according to the press reports.

Consumers who apply for extensions after mid-April will have to call a call center and provide evidence showing that they qualify for a special enrollment period.
After the end of the ordinary open enrollment period, consumers will still be able to apply for individual QHP coverage if they can show that they have gone through a major life event, such as a marriage or the loss of a job, and they also can justify a request for a "special enrollment period" by showing that they should qualify for a hardship exemption for some other reason.

In Ohio under current law, consumers who do not qualify for a special enrollment period will not be able to start new applications for coverage from April 1 through Nov 15th, when the QHP open enrollment period for 2015 coverage is set to begin.

What happens after Open Enrollment?

Our final deadline for the PPACA, or Obama Care, is quickly approaching. March 31, 2014 is the deadline for open enrollment in 2014.

A Special Enrollment Period is the time outside of Open Enrollment that allows individuals and families facing special circumstances (Qualifying Life Events) to enroll in a Qualified Health Plan. Eligible individuals have 60 days to enroll after their Qualifying Life Event.

50% of all enrollments occur outside of Open Enrollment due to Qualifying Life Events!

Major Qualifying Life Events Include:
-Marriage/Divorce
-Addition of a child to your household
-Permanently moving to a new state
-Loss of employer or group coverage.


For more help during enrollment, log onto www.millerlewishemahelp.com

Daily Fact-COBRA rights for dependents

How are COBRA rights impacted when an Employee terminates a spouse's or dependent's coverage in anticipation of divorce?

Where a covered Employee discontinues the coverage of a spouse in anticipation of a divorce or legal separation, the plan is required to make COBRA coverage available effective upon the date of the divorce or legal separation. The plan is not required to make coverage available for any period before the date of the divorce or legal separation.

The Qualified Beneficiary must notify the plan administrator within 60 days of the divorce or legal separation in order to be eligible for COBRA continuation coverage.