Tuesday is the deadline to sign up for a health plan under the Affordable Care Act.
Laura Howard, executive director of the Delaware Health Commission, is urging anyone who qualifies for a plan to sign up, even though the future of the health law is uncertain.
“We’re encouraging consumers better safe than sorry. And making sure they’re into the system and not being hurt by getting locked out of the opportunity to be enrolled before the end of January,” she said.
Howard said getting a plan now will ensure you have continuous coverage if a replacement is put in place, since the next open enrollment most likely won’t happen until November, regardless of what happens in Congress.
“So no matter what the changes might be at the federal level, now is the time to get into a plan so folks are covered through whatever transition might happen on the federal side,” she said.
And even though there’s talk of repealing the tax penalty for not having insurance, it’s still the law.
The penalty for 2017 is $695 per adult and half that amount per child, with the maximum penalty per family capping out at a little more than $2,000.
Anyone signing up for coverage Tuesday will have insurance take effect March 1. The deadline is midnight.
