1st deadline to sign up for Obamacare is today

If you’re signing up for Obamacare and want your health insurance coverage to kick in Jan. 1, you need to sign up for a plan Thursday.

The future of the health law is uncertain, but federal officials say that consumers’ insurance coverage most likely won’t be affected in 2017.

“I think the insurers, I think the president-elect, I think the members [of Congress] have indicated that they won’t disrupt [marketplace coverage] for ’17,” said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell during a visit to Washington Park Branch Library, one of the local marketplace enrollment sites in Orlando. “And that’s why we're encouraging everyone to sign up.”

Burwell’s Orlando visit Tuesday was part of a twoday, four-city tour to promote today’s deadline and to highlight the affordability of the plans.

Many people don’t know that they qualify for financial help to pay their monthly premiums, Burwell said. “And here in Florida in the marketplace, 80 percent of folks could find a plan for $75 or less per month in premiums with a tax credit.”

Katie and Scott Morris, an artist and a writer, Where to get free help Covering Florida: www.coveringflorida.org, 877-813-9115 Enroll America: www.getcoveredamerica .org/get-coveredconnector-national Main website: www.healthcare.gov Thursday: Consumers must select a plan if they want coverage to begin Jan. 1, 2017. Jan. 15: Those who select plan by this date will have coverage beginning Feb. 1, 2017. Jan. 31: Last day of open enrollment. Consumers who select a plan on this date will have coverage beginning March 1, 2017. April 15: Individuals who received premium tax credit in 2016 must file 2016 federal income tax return and use Form 8962. signed up for Obamacare earlier this year, when she was four months pregnant. She paid roughly $200 a month for individual insurance coverage in an offmarketplace plan that covered her and her 12-year-old daughter, but after getting pregnant, she found out her deductible alone increased to $2,000.

After signing up for a marketplace plan, “we’re only paying $60 monthly for me, my daughter and my husband,” said Katie Morris, 36.

During the first month of open enrollment this year, which began Nov. 15, more than 515,000 people in Florida signed up for a plan, according to federal data.

Florida Blue, the largest player in the marketplace in Florida, saw a 70 percent increase in enrollment applications during the week after the election, compared with the same period last year, according to the company.

The Trump administration’s plans to repeal, replace or amend the health law have not been finalized, but some key players are hopeful that the transition will be a smooth one.

“You cannot rush a set of changes that have such incredible consequences for so many people,” said Pat Geraghty, CEO of Guidewell and Florida Blue in an interview. “So our hope is that whatever change happens, that we set a period of time, at least a three-year transition period to get to a new plan.”

The open enrollment period ends Jan. 31, 11 days after Burwell hands the baton to her successor, Dr. Tom Price.