Shopping to update your coverage on the health insurance marketplace may be annoying 鈥� didn鈥檛 you just do this last year? But letting the exchange automatically renew your coverage instead could be a big mistake. If you don鈥檛 like the plan you鈥檙e auto-enrolled in this year you may be stuck with it in 2018, unlike previous years when people could generally switch.
It鈥檚 all in the timing. This year, the open enrollment period, which started Nov. 1, will end a week from today, on Dec. 15 in most states. On Dec. 16, if you haven鈥檛 picked a new plan, the marketplace will generally in the one you鈥檙e in this year or another one with similar coverage.
But unlike previous years when the open enrollment period聽ran through the end of January, this year open enrollment will generally be over by the time you see which plan you鈥檝e been assigned to.
鈥淭he deadline catches up with people,鈥� said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)
It鈥檚 important to affirmatively pick a plan to make sure you鈥檙e getting the right coverage at the best price. Federal tax credits that help pay for premiums are pegged to low-cost silver plans, called benchmark plans. It鈥檚 critical that each year you run the numbers to determine how your premium tax credit could be affected by changes in the benchmark plan and how that affects what you will pay out of pocket for coverage. Even if you are assigned to the same plan, your costs could be different next year.
Auto-enrollment doesn鈥檛 take premiums or benchmark plan changes into account, said Stan Dorn, a senior fellow at Families USA, an advocacy group.
Last year, were auto-enrolled. That鈥檚 nearly a quarter of the 12.2 million people who enrolled in marketplace plans during the open enrollment period that ran from Nov. 1, 2016, through Jan. 31, 2017.
People whose plans will be discontinued聽by their insurer next year have a little room to maneuver if they鈥檙e auto-enrolled on Dec. 16. Because their plan will no longer be offered, that鈥檚 considered a loss of coverage, which triggers a 60-day special enrollment period. They can pick a plan through the end of February.
鈥淏ut you have to pay the premium [on your existing plan], or you鈥檒l have a gap in coverage,鈥� said Pollitz, a risk that potentially exposes people to a penalty for not having insurance.
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