http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/obamacare-enrollment-contractor-98792.html#.UmmjYhTCuDs.twitterObamacare contractor: Enrollment will be OK by Dec. 15
By POLITICO PRO STAFF | 10/24/13 10:47 AM EDT
The lead contractor for the HealthCare.gov website predicted today that people will be able to enroll en masse by Dec. 15 – a key date for those trying to get health coverage as soon as possible.
“We anticipate that the system, as we have seen, is improving day over day. … The system is working,” CGI Federal Senior Vice President Cheryl Campbell told the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“People are enrolling [now] but people will be able to enroll at a faster pace … and people will be able to enroll by Dec. 15,” she said at the first hearing into the website’s botched launch.
If her timetable is right — and no new tech crises emerge — it wouldn’t be a worst-case scenario for the health law rollout. But it’s not a perfect one either, and it’s likely to add to the building pressure for the administration to at least extend the six-month sign-up season past its scheduled March 31 end.
For those who want to get covered at the very start of Obamacare health benefits — Jan. 1, 2014 — the signup deadline is Dec. 15. And the Obama administration hopes to get 7 million people in the exchanges by the end of March — which will be a lot tougher with enrollment so difficult in the first phase.
Some Democrats have called for pushing back signup deadlines — but not eliminating the individual mandate or putting off the start of coverage. Republicans have called for broader delays to the program.
