SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
Originally, the Affordable Care Act's open enrollment period for
the 2015 plan year was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, October 15, 2014. However, the
start date was later delayed by the Administration to Saturday, November 15, 2014, after the midterm
elections held in early November. With the open enrollment period
for the Affordable Care Act less than a month away, HealthPocket
conducted a nationwide survey to determine whether the delayed
start date of the enrollment period was viewed by the public as
politically motivated.
Over six out of ten Americans surveyed believe the
administration's political considerations were the reason for the
delay of the enroll period until after the midterm elections.
When asked, "Do you think the administration delayed the Obamacare
enrollment period from October 15th
till after the elections for political reasons?" 63% answered,
"Yes, politics influenced the date change." In contrast, only 37%
of survey respondents answered, "No, politics weren't behind the
date change."
70% more respondents assumed a political motivation behind the
post-election enrollment delay than those who did not. The belief
in a political motivation was found in the majority of respondents
across the major regions of the U.S. with the Northeast, at 65.9%
having the largest percentage of respondents answer "Yes, politics
influenced the date change."
Overall, women and men had similar portions of respondents
believe/disbelieve in a political motivation for the enrollment
period change. Approximately 2 percentage points separated the
answer selections between the two groups revealing no significant
differences in perspective between them.
The modification of the 2015 Obamacare enrollment period has
several implications for consumers that are independent of
politics. The new period extends into 2015 so those people desiring
insurance coverage to become effective January 1st should submit an enrollment by
December 15th unless they intend to
have an existing health insurance plan to auto-renew.
Those factors affecting the public's perspective on the issue
were not solicited by the survey and remain a matter of
speculation. The nationwide poll was conducted from October 24 through October 26 of this year. The
full results of the survey along with its methodology can be
reviewed at "Majority of Americans See Political Motive Behind
Delay of Obamacare Enrollment Till After Elections."
HealthPocket.com is a free website that
compares and ranks all health insurance plans available to an
individual, family, or small business to allow consumers to make
their best health plan decision and reduce their out of pocket
costs. HealthPocket is nonpartisan and uses only objective data
from government, non-profit, and private sources that carry no
conditions that might restrict the site from serving as an unbiased
resource. HealthPocket, Inc., based in Sunnyvale, California, is an independently
managed subsidiary of Health Insurance Innovations Inc
(NASDAQ:HIIQ). Learn more at
www.HealthPocket.com.
Kev Coleman, Head of Research
& Data at HealthPocket, is available for interviews and
commentary. To schedule an interview, please contact Ryan Hughes with Shirley & Banister Public
Affairs at RHughes@SBPublicAffairs.com or 703-739-5920
or by cell at 224-723-8688.
SOURCE HealthPocket