Coloradans rushing to meet Monday deadline for health insurance coverage

Health insurance enrollments through the state's new marketplace continued to surge as people rushed to meet a Monday deadline to sign up for coverage beginning Jan. 1.

Connect for Health Colorado officials tallied 35,356 insurance enrollees through the end of the day Saturday, marketplace officials said Monday.

Coloradans have until midnight Monday to enroll in an insurance plan if they want coverage to begin Jan. 1. People who don't mind their coverage beginning later in 2014, though, can sign up through March 31.

Monday's deadline caused a deluge of calls into the marketplace's call center - often extending wait times beyond 20 minutes, said Patty Fontneau, the marketplace's chief executive.

The call center has 234 people available to take calls today - 50 of whom were contracted specifically for the December surge, said Lindy Hinman, the marketplace's chief operating officer.

On Saturday alone, the call center responded to more than 3,500 calls or chat requests, she said. From Oct. 1 through Saturday night, the call center has logged more than 116,998 calls or chat sessions.

The surge has helped bolster enrollment figures that have trailed projected totals since Connect for Health Coloardo's opening on Oct. 1.

As a worst-case scenario, marketplace officials envisioned 36,931 people enrolling by Dec. 31.

Officials' mid-range scenario - the figure needed for the marketplace to reach its goal of 136,300 enrollees by the end of 2014 - called for 66,114 people to enroll by Dec. 31.

The best-case scenario was 102,775 enrollees by Dec. 31.

Enrollees must pay insurance carriers to activate their plans.

That payment - called a premium - is typically due to insurance carriers before coverage can start. Usually, that's Jan. 1.

This year, however, insurance companies agreed to extend the deadline for that first payment until Jan. 10 - meaning that Coloradans who purchased an exchange-based plan can wait until that date to pay, and have their account in good standing, said Myung Kim, a marketplace spokeswoman.

People can seek health care during that 10-day grace period, but they will have to pay out of pocket and seek reimbursement one they have paid and received their insurance card, said Marc Reece, with the Colorado Association of Health Plans, an insurance carrier trade group.

For those in the 36 states that are using the federal government's HealthCare.gov website to sign up for insurance, the Obama administration said enrollees will have a one day grace period - effectively extending Monday's deadline by a day

The federal extension - which runs through Tuesday - was the latest in a series of pushed-back deadlines and delays that have marked the troubled rollout of the health care law.

But federal officials urged buyers not to procrastinate.

"You should not wait until tomorrow. If you are aiming to get coverage Jan. 1, you should try to sign up today," said Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the federal agency overseeing the overhaul.

Bataille said the grace period was being offered to accommodate people from different time zones and to deal with any technical problems that might result from a last-minute rush of applicants.

Colorado officials said they aren't extending the state deadline, but added they will do everything possible to get customers insured by Jan. 1.