Health insurance signup begins today, but deadline is cut in half this year for most

Wisconsin’s deadline is Dec. 15, while Minnesotans have an extra month 

With all the technology at our fingertips today, when it comes to signing up for health insurance, the best bet in Wisconsin is apparently the telephone.

The signup period has been cut in half this year for the Affordable Care Act with the deadline Dec. 15. Those who attempt to sign up after that will incur penalties. 

So, health insurance agents will be working around the clock, like tax preparers, as open enrollment begins today.

Jan Den Boer with Benefit Advisors Insurance Agency in La Crosse says those normal business hours don’t apply during open enrollment, especially now.

“The most efficient process is going to be to handle everything over the phone,” Den Boer said. “The hurdle that we run into every year, the challenge, is access to the website because the website is so inundated with people on it.”

Along with the signup period being cut in half, counselors who help consumers get through the process have also been slashed. The feds also cut advertising and cancelled a subsidy to insurers, which would have lowered consumer costs. Instead, premiums are higher this year.

For Den Boer, the phone has already been ringing steady with people asking about signup.

“We will get to everybody even if we have to work long weird hours,” she said, noting your insurance agency may call you after 5 p.m. because it’s the best time for them to access the marketplace.

And, while the ACA marketplace deadline is Dec. 15 in Wisconsin, states with their own marketplace, like Minnesota, have different deadlines. Those signing up on MNSure have until Jan. 14.