Healthcare.gov Open Enrollment Ends But Options Remain
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
By: Alicia Mandigo

The deadline is passed, but those who couldn't sign up for health care coverage Monday because of website glitches may not be out of luck. Local navigators are still one the job.

[Enroll America's Jeannine Gage helps a woman sign in on the last day of open enrollment]

A steady stream of people filed into the  Dr. James R Smith Neighborhood center in downtown Orlando hoping to sign up for healthcare coverage on the last day of open enrollment- but website glitches got in the way again. Lead Navigator Anne Packham says it’s ok, because beginning April 1^st, Healthcare.gov will have a new special enrollment option in place for people who need to sign up after the deadline for a variety of reasons- including life changing events and technical problems.

“Any of those would be acceptable answers that people would be able to push a button and say this is what happened to me and go on to the enrollment, or the account creation and enrollment process,” she says.

Some of the people at the neighborhood center said they were forced to wait until the last minute to enroll because their heavy work schedules didn’t allow them time to do it sooner.