Court ruling could clear up some Obamacare confusion
The deadline to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act — or face penalties — is a little more than two months away now: March 31. A survey out today says lots of people don’t know that, highlighting just how much confusion there still is about the health care law.
More than half of Americans don’t know when the deadline is to sign up for health insurance, according to a report from Bankrate.com.
Granted, many of those people already have insurance.
“But we do think our findings about young adults are somewhat worrisome,” says Bankrate insurance analyst Doug Whiteman.
Everyone is counting on the young and healthy to balance out the insurance pool, to keep costs down, says Whiteman.
“We found that young adults between 18 and 29, which is the age group least likely to have health insurance, also is the group that seems least informed about the deadline,” he says.
One thing that might be preventing better awareness: 17 states have passed laws limiting the work of the so-called “navigators” who are supposed to help people sign up on the federal exchange.
Last week a federal judge blocked Missouri’s restrictions on navigators.
“By preventing navigators from doing their jobs, states really undercut and undermine a fundamental purpose of the Affordable Care Act,” says attorney Jay Angoff, who represented groups suing the state and was involved in the initial implementation of the ACA at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Angoff says the Missouri ruling could help opponents fight similar laws restricting navigators in other states.
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