Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to delay the start of the second year of Obamacare enrollment by one month to allow insurers more time to set rates after assessing their plan experiences during 2014, a department official informed Bloomberg Business News Thursday night.
Translated, this means that instead of an Oct. 15-Dec. 7, 2014, enrollment period for health plans starting in January 2015, the enrollments would take place between Nov. 15, 2014, and Jan. 15, 2015. Conveniently, the enrollment period also commences after federal elections have ended that month.
Without referencing elections, an HHS official told Bloomberg that the delay is “good news for consumers, who will have more time to learn about plans before enrolling.” The delay also gives insurers until late May 2014 to submit applications to sell policies on the Obamacare marketplaces.