Insurance Deadline Extended To Wednesday

The early window to enroll in government health insurance programs has been extended to 11:59pm Wednesday night.

Tennessee Health Care Campaign Director of Enrollment Services Silvia Calzadilla said anyone with a lot of health issues should enroll by that deadline to guarantee they can get coverage starting January 1. Calzadilla said these coverage plans automatically end December 31, so people who are already using one still have to reapply each year.

“A lot of people also need medications and if they don’t enroll they won’t have the coverage to pay for those medications or whatever tests or whatever they’re going through for that month,” Calzadilla said. “So they would have to wait until February to be able to resume whatever they were doing.”

Calzadilla said people can enroll in an insurance plan until January 15, but those who miss the early deadline will not get coverage until February 1. Calzadilla said anyone can call her organization for assistance or enroll in a plan online.

“If they need to talk to us, we’ve been known to work very late just to help people,” Calzadilla said. “So that’s not an issue if it’s at 8:00pm or 9:00pm. I know some people work, sometimes they have no time during the day.”

Calzadilla said she believes the deadline was extended to allow more people to get the extra month of coverage that comes with early enrollment. Calzadilla said the number for her office is (844) 644-5443 and that line can help people in English or Spanish.

“We can do an application in pretty much an hour and they can be enrolled starting January 1 still if they call now,” Calzadilla said.