Dec. 23 deadline looms ahead for Washington HealthPlanFinder

From Seattle / King County Public Health

Thousands of Washington residents want to beat Washington Healthplanfinder’s deadline of December 23rd — so they can have medical coverage starting in January. In the past week, 17,000 have enrolled.

Enrollment will continue beyond this month, with a final deadline for 2014 coverage coming on March 31. (And anyone whose income qualifies for Medicaid/Apple Health can enroll at any time during the year.)

Still, Dec. 23 is looming large. The Exchange, which manages Healthplanfinder, has offered some tips as FAQs, and some basic instructions, quoted below: 

Applications submitted by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 23 will have their insurance benefits retroactively configured to the start of the year.

“We want to remind residents the deadline for submitting applications has not been extended,” said CEO Richard Onizuka. “While we are allowing more time to process applications through Jan. 15, residents must have started an application in our system by December 23 and follow important step-by-step guidance to receive their coverage on January 1.”

Affected customers should be on high alert to receive notifications from Washington Healthplanfinder. Customers will receive notifications outlining important steps to bypass or fix errors affecting their application. Key steps include: 

One. Customers will be required to select a health plan and submit their payment through Washington Healthplanfinder. At that time, customer accounts will show that coverage is effective Feb. 1, 2014. 

Two. Customers must notify Healthplanfinder they are interested in coverage for January 1, 2014. They will receive a detailed communication instructing them how to confirm their interest via phone or email for coverage effective January 1.

That means, if your application has been plagued by error codes, you won’t be left out. 

For last minute enrollment help, there are several options, described on King County’s health coverage website.