First Affordable Care Act deadline is Dec. 15

If you haven’t renewed your health insurance for 2017, time is running out — if you hope to be covered in January.

To have health insurance in place for Jan. 1, 2017, individuals need to either choose a plan or renew their existing one by Thursday, Dec. 15 at midnight. Those who miss the deadline will have to wait until Feb. 1, 2017 for coverage. Those signing up Dec. 16-Jan. 15 will start on Feb. 1 and those signing up Jan. 16-Jan. 31 will have their plans start on March 1, 2017.

Affordable Healthcare Pros will be working extra hours in the next few days to make sure everyone is taken care of. But it is a two-day street. There is no guarantee that those who wait until the last minute will get their coverage done in time.

In the past, overloads on deadline days have been known to shut down the Healthcare.gov system and cause delays.

The deadline is not just for the Marketplace, however. If you are getting insurance off the Marketplace without a subsidy, we still need to get your information submitted on time, so don’t wait until the last minute to get it done.

You can call us at 775-883-3414 or call me personally at 775-224-7169 to set up an appointment. There is no charge for our services.

You can also come by our office at 2307 N. Carson Street, in Carson City for assistance.

Another deadline, for assistance coming off Medicare Advantage and going back to original Medicare, passed on Dec. 7. However, those who still wish to go back to original Medicare will have another disenrollment period Jan. 1 to Feb. 14 when they can disenroll from the Medicare Advantage plan and go to original Medicare with a supplement. We can also help you with that, if you call us at one of the above numbers or come by our office.

We have 10 different Medicare supplement companies to choose from. Again, we do not charge for our services. We also assist those turning 65 with going on Medicare with either a supplement or a Medicare Advantage plan. Don’t hesitate to ask us for help.

Ron Bliss is a former long-time sports writer who has been doing health and life insurance since 2009. He is certified on both Covered California and the Nevada Health Link and can sell products on and off both exchanges. Affordable Healthcare Pros also offers a variety of dental plans to include dental-vision-hearing plans in both states, as well as a wide variety of Medicare supplements and other health supplemental products to include critical illness, disability, plans to cover in-home or nursing home costs, accidents and hospital indemnity policies. He can also refer individuals who cannot afford a supplement to Medicare Advantage plans. He can also give you the choice of a number of Life Insurance carriers, including those who offer Long-Term Care riders.