Many Illinois consumers still have time to buy Obamacare plans under little-discussed exception

Dec. 16--Many Illinois consumers have more time to buy health insurance on the Obamacare exchange than they thought.

Dec. 15 is the official deadline for Illinois consumers to choose health plans on the Obamacare exchange. But under a little-discussed exception to that rule, consumers whose current exchange plans are being discontinued at the end of the year have until March 1 to enroll in new plans.

They must pick plans by Dec. 31 if they want their coverage to start Jan. 1. If they choose plans in January, their coverage will start Feb. 1, and if they choose plans in February, coverage will start March 1, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms.

It wasn't immediately clear Friday exactly how many Illinoisans might be eligible for the that special enrollment period. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and Cigna, two exchange insurers, were not able to provide numbers by deadline Friday.

But it's likely to be significant.

Blue Cross, the state's largest insurer, is offering 14 exchange plans for next year, down from 24 this year. Alexandra Eidenberg, president and co-founder of The Insurance People in Skokie, an insurance brokerage, said she didn't have one client this year whose current exchange plan wasn't being discontinued.

Consumers across the state received notices months ago if their plans were being discontinued, with information about a "special enrollment period." But the extra time may still come as a surprise to some who found the language of the letters vague.

Paige Worthy, who was notified a few months ago that her plan would be discontinued, said neither she nor her friends knew they could shop past Dec. 15.

The Lincoln Square marketing consultant said she bought a new plan the first day of open enrollment, Nov. 1. But others she knew were scrambling Friday to find coverage. Knowing about the extended timeline probably wouldn't have changed the way she shopped, "but it certainly would have saved a lot of people I know from some serious anxiety this week just knowing they had a little bit longer."

Eidenberg, the broker, said she advised clients to purchase new plans before the official deadline even if they may have qualified for the special enrollment period. That's because people with exchange coverage who don't choose new plans are automatically enrolled into new ones if they do nothing. She worries that consumers might run into roadblocks trying to cancel that automatic coverage so they can replace it with coverage bought after Dec. 15.

The special enrollment period is just one more thing for consumers, facing higher rates and fewer choices this year, to know during an open enrollment period marked by changes and confusion.

This year's open enrollment period is about half as long as last year's, and the Trump administration cut funding for outreach and advertisingr.

President Donald Trump also took action shortly before this year's open enrollment window to withhold certain subsidies from the federal government to insurers. In Illinois, many insurers built uncertainty over those subsidies into their rates for next year, and the state also worked with insurers to make sure those increased rates led to higher tax credits for consumers as well.

Congress is debating tax measures that would erase the Affordable Care Act's requirement that everyone buy insurance or face a penalty -- raising questions about the marketplaces' future stability.

As of Dec. 9, about 168,663 Illinois consumers had chosen plans. That was up from 144,181 who had chosen plans as of Dec. 10 of last year. Still, experts say it's unlikely this year's enrollment numbers will match last year's, given the shorter enrollment window this year.

lschencker@chicagotribune.com

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