Do you have health insurance?

Over the last few weeks I have found myself mentioning on more than one occasion — to clients and prospective clients — the importance of their having health insurance. In several instances, it was clear that health insurance could perform as the only safety net that would allow them to have affordable access to the upcoming medical care they had been projected to need to complete their recovery from injuries caused by a car accident, trip and fall, or other trauma. And of course, it is just a good idea to have health insurance in place, if there is any way one possibly can, in case other medical issues arise unexpectedly in the course of life.

Federal officials said they are launching an aggressive consumer outreach in the days before the Feb. 15 enrollment cut-off and didn't indicate there would be an extension of the deadline. Open Enrollment Deadline is 2/15/2015!”

I am reminded, in reading yesterday's Wall Street Journal, however, that enrollment for 2015 health insurance policies is only open for a short period of time. I write this on February 6, and enrollment closes on February 15. The process takes some time to complete, too. So this is just a friendly reminder, if getting signed up for a private health insurance coverage is on your “wish-list” for this year, time is really running out.

Will the folks in charge likely extend the deadline for signing up this year? That doesn't sound like something that should be counted on. According to yesterday's Wall Street Journal article, entitled “Health Law Set to Hit Goals On Sign-Ups”:

Federal officials said they are launching an aggressive consumer outreach for health insurance open enrollment in the days before the Feb. 15 enrollment cut-off and didn't indicate there would be an extension of the deadline.

“Consumers need to treat Feb. 15 as their last chance to get coverage this year,” Andy Slavitt, principal deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees implementation of the health law, told reporters.