Uninsured bombarding Washington exchange to beat Obamacare deadline

The deadline looms for people to sign up for health insurance under Obamacare. Officials insist unless there’s a technical glitch on their end, the deadline is firm.

Anyone who wants insurance must complete an application and make payment by 11:59 p.m. Monday, or they’ll have to wait for the next enrollment period, which opens November 15.

“There is no ‘the dog ate my Kindle’ that we’re going to allow,” says Michael Marchand, director of communications for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange. Marchand says while the Obama administration has said there could be extensions for people who had problems signing up, those in Washington will have to prove they were in the process and made a “good faith effort” to complete both the application and make payment. He says any requests for an extension would only be considered on a case-by-case basis.

People who still want to enroll Monday can sign up via the Washington healthplanfinder website or call center. They can also sign up at a number of community partners or an insurance agent or broker.

Marchand says after early technical and staffing issues when open enrollment began last fall, the system is functioning well despite high demand so while things are busy, things are running smoothly.

“It’s all hands on deck so if you need assistance, it’s out there,” he says of the looming deadline.

Despite the deadline, those who face a change in their existing coverage can still sign up if they lost their employer-provided coverage, get married, have a child or encounter some other life event that changes their current insurance.

Demand has been extremely high as people raced in the last weekend to beat the deadline. Approximately 140,000 have now purchased insurance through Washington Healthplanfinder, Marchand says.

“Just in the last weekend or so we’ve added another 10,000 from where we were on Thursday,” he says.