Friday is the last day to sign up for Obamacare for 2018

Dec. 14--Pennsylvanians have until Friday to purchase an insurance plan from the Affordable Care Act marketplace to meet a federal requirement for 2018.

More than 205,000 Pennsylvanians enrolled in a marketplace plan from Nov. 1 to Dec. 9. Last year, about 191,000 Pennsylvania residents had signed up for a plan by Dec. 10. However, the enrollment period was twice as long last year and more than 426,000 Pennsylvanians had signed up by the end of the three-month period.

The shortened enrollment period was one of a number of changes to the national health care policy made by President Donald Trump's administration, which has been critical of Obamacare. And House and Senate Republicans reached an agreement Wednesday on a tax bill that includes a repeal of the individual requirement to purchase a health insurance plan.

Without a penalty for the uninsured, young and healthy people likely will would drop their insurance plans, leading insurers to raise prices or leave the marketplace, health officials say.

The change would reduce the federal deficit by about $338 billion in the next decade but increase the number of uninsured by 13 million, Congressional Budget Office estimates show.

In Pennsylvania, about half a million people could become uninsured by 2025 and premiums for an average family are projected to increase by $2,300 in 2019, according to estimates by the Center for American Progress, a policy institute promoting "progressive ideas."

Nearly 23,000 Lehigh Valley residents are covered under Obamacare and three insurance companies -- Highmark, Capital BlueCross and Geisinger -- are offering more than a dozen Obamacare insurance plans in the region.

Their rates will be locked in for the year. To sign up for insurance, contact one of the participating companies or go to healthcare.gov.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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TO SIGN UP

To get coverage under the Affordable Care Act or for assistance:

Main government site, healthcare.gov

The Pennsylvania Health Access Network, 877-570-3642.

Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley, nhclv.org/enrollment2017, 484-408-0755.

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department: https://pa.checkbookhealth.org/hie/pa/2018/.

Insurance providers Capital Blue Cross, Highmark and Geisinger, as well as Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Luke's University Health Network.

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