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Health enrollment deadline extended for some
Those who try signing up before March 31 will get more time
Marylanders who try but are unable to sign up for health insurance on the state’s exchange by the March 31 deadline will be given more time to do so, state officials announced Tuesday.
Under a plan approved by the board of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange on Tuesday, consumers will have to call a newly established hotline to report that they have started an application for insurance but have been unable to complete it because of problems with the online exchange.
Consumers must call the new hotline (800-396-1961) or be referred by the original customer support call center by March 31 in order to be eligible for the extension. Those consumers will then have to be on the lookout for a call from exchange personnel, who will provide “special assistance” to help residents sign up for coverage that will begin May 1, officials said.
All four insurance carriers that sell plans on the exchange are participating in this extension, officials said.
If someone does not call the hotline, that person will not be able to benefit from the extension — the original deadline for open enrollment will still apply, even if she was stymied in signing up, said Dori Henry, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
When asked if it’s realistic for officials to expect they’ll be able to reach every consumer who might be in this situation, state Health Secretary Joshua Sharfstein said: “We’re trying to do the most that we can do.”
Sharfstein said notifications about the new hotline will be posted everywhere consumers might be interacting with the exchange, including on the website, with call-center representatives and with navigators doing in-person enrollments.
Maryland Health Connection, the state’s malfunctioning online insurance exchange, has been riddled with technical problems since it launched on Oct. 1. Officials have enacted a series of quick fixes designed to sidestep the exchange or deal with the issues it has caused.
Sharfstein said he’s not sure how many people will have to call the hotline but that he expects it will be fewer than 1,300 families — which is the number of households who called to register for retroactive health coverage (another offer made earlier this year to people who were stymied by the website).
As of March 8, there have been 40,693 Marylanders who enrolled in private health plans via Maryland Health Connection. As of March 11, 193,670 have gained access to Medicaid.
