About 62K Ohioans have picked marketplace health plans

If you sign up by January 15, coverage will kick in February 1.

The earlier deadline for enrollment was Tuesday night.

The surge in demand is forcing some customers to put their names down on a waiting list until the call center can help them enroll. One million people left contact information after encountering delays logging onto the healthcare.gov website or reaching call centers, the officials said. Since Nov. 1, NYSOH’s website has had more than 43 million page views and 1.8 million anonymous shopping searches through December 10. That means the busiest days of traffic were not counted in the tally.

In order to avoid paying a penalty, individuals must be registered for a health insurance plan by January 31.

December 15th is the latest you can sign up to have your coverage start on the first of the year.

A few states, including California and NY, had already announced extensions of their own.

As of Saturday, almost 835,000 Floridians had signed up for or renewed coverage during this third Affordable Care Act enrollment period, the highest number among the 38 states using the federal exchange.

“I am pleased with the strong start to this year’s Open Enrollment”, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said.

If you don’t have health insurance and haven’t enrolled through HealthCare.gov, you now have some extra time.

Southworth says the Community Health Care Center’s navigator sees about six to eight people a day during open enrollment. It will lower premiums to $20 or less a month and provide comprehensive benefits for hundreds of thousands of lower income New Yorkers, according to NYSOH.

In California, the nation’s largest state-run marketplace, officials also were reporting a flood of consumers seeking coverage. The penalties are estimated at 2.5 percent of family income or up to $695 for individuals.