Obamacare customers given two more days to sign up

The Obama administration late Tuesday said last-minute Obamacare customers would have two more days to select a plan on HealthCare.gov and be covered in time for the new year.

Citing “unprecedented demand,” officials said customers could now sign up through 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Pacific time and still have a policy that takes effect Jan. 1.

Open enrollment technically lasts until Jan. 31, and customers were supposed to sign up by midnight Tuesday to have their plans go into effect by the start of 2016, when the baseline Obamacare tax for those without coverage will more than double from $325 to $695.

Yet administration officials said the days leading to the deadline had been the busiest ever on HealthCare.gov, the federal portal serving 38 states without their own web-based exchanges.

“Hundreds of thousands have already selected plans over the last two days and approximately 1 million consumers have left their contact information to hold their place in line,” HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan said. “Our goal is to provide access to affordable coverage, and the additional 48 hours will give consumers an opportunity to come back and complete their enrollment for January 1 coverage.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services noted that states such as New York and Minnesota had already announced similar extensions on their state-run exchanges.