The federal government has extended the deadline to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace.
President Joe Biden extended enrollment to May 15th partly because of hardships caused by COVID-19.
Courtney Meyer is the Director of Product Development at Sanford Health Plans. She says the extension should help remove any obstacles to getting healthcare.
“For this time of year you would have to have what’s called a ‘special enrollment period.’ Basically it’s something as the result of a life event – you lost your job, you got married, you had a baby – those types of events would be required to come on this time of year and get health insurance.”
Meyer says roughly ten percent of people in a four-state region including North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa are not insured.
She says health insurance is now more affordable because of the online marketplace and new federal subsidies.