If you want health insurance through Obamacare, get it today, because this is the last day for signing up for coverage beginning January 1, 2017. If you already have it and want to change your plan, you have until December 31 to make that election, otherwise you'll be automatically re-enrolled. And enrollments will still be open through January 31, 2017, for next year. But if you're going to do it, do it now to help make the Republicans' repeal plans that much harder—the more people they take insurance away from, the more it will hurt them.
That's what other Americans are apparently thinking, because enrollments are running ahead of last year.
“Momentum building. . . Americans want coverage,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
The sign-up figures issued by Burwell’s aides run through Dec. 10, and they show that 4 million people had chosen health plans since enrollment began Nov. 1. That compares with 3.75 million who chose plans during the same 40-day window a year ago. Coverage takes effect after an individual begins to pay the monthly insurance premiums.
The figures include the 39 states that rely on HealthCare.gov and the federal insurance exchange website and exclude the District, Maryland and 10 other states that run their own marketplaces.
As always, you can rely on our friend Charles Gaba to stay on top of those numbers. But really, if you need to sign up, do it. If you know anyone who needs to sign up, call them right now and get them on it.