At the start of this month, Obama administration officials announced that the Web site was largely working smoothly and began to urge consumers to sign up for coverage before the Dec. 23 deadline. The full open-enrollment period extends through the end of March, but the first deadline is for people who want coverage to start on New Year’s Day — the date it becomes available.
The change means that anyone who completes an enrollment by the end of Christmas Eve can get coverage starting Jan. 1, even if they do not begin an application until Tuesday.
One individual familiar with the unannounced extension said that it is, in part, intended as a buffer in case the Web site has trouble if a last-minute surge of insurance-seekers proved more than the computer system could handle. According to the two individuals, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity about a matter that is not public, the one-day extension is automatic, built into the software, and cannot be overridden by individual insurers if they object.
Asked to explain the reason for the extension — and why it was kept secret — officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency overseeing the health exchange, at first declined to respond. Then CMS officials issued two statements, the second rewording the previous one. In the first statement, Julie Bataille, director of CMS’s office of communication, said the official deadline for signing up for Jan. 1 coverage remains Monday, but she added: “Anticipating high demand and the fact that consumers may be enrolling from multiple time zones, we have taken steps to make sure that those who select a plan through tomorrow will get coverage for Jan 1.” The second statement omitted any mention of an extra day, referring only to a “fail-safe.”