Interesting CMS Trick

“As with previous years, some consumers who call the Marketplace Call Center during high-volume periods may be asked to leave their contact information to complete their enrollment after the December 15 deadline. This process will reduce hold times and allow those consumers to come back and complete their enrollment for January 1 coverage.” [emphasis in original]

Hunh.

So how does that work?

Well:

“As we get closer to the deadline, the Marketplace Call Center may start prompting some callers to leave their contact information. This is an automated process enabled when volume is high. When someone calls, they will either be asked to leave their information or they will wait to speak to a representative. If a consumer is able to speak with a representative, they will be offered assistance with enrollment. There is no option for a caller to ask a representative to leave their information for a later enrollment.”

Well that makes sense, sorta:

If the deadline is December 15, and we’ve known about the dates and the cutoff for many months, why are we coddling late-comers who’ve had plenty of time to make this happen before the last minute? I think we all know the answer to that:

“Has anyone noticed there’s only abt 10m enrolled in exchanges & the (2013) baseline estimate is about triple that?“

Proving that the rocket surgeons in DC will do pretty much anything to goose those numbers.