Obama administration officials have started drafting the rules for the 2018 HealthCare.gov plan issuer application process.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created HealthCare.gov to provide Affordable Care Act public exchange enrollment services in states that are unwilling or unable to handle exchange enrollment services themselves.
Donald Trump, the president-elect, has promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. At press time, he had not yet given details about how he wants to handle the ACA public exchange system.
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Under current HHS rules, the open enrollment period for 2018 would start Nov. 1, 2017, and end Jan. 31, 2018.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an HHS division, has released three draft documents for administering HealthCare.gov and other ACA programs in 2018. Comments on the drafts are due Dec. 1.
One of the documents, a proposed HealthCare.gov plan certification schedule, calls for insurers to submit 2018 exchange participation applications from April 5, 2017, through May 3, 2017.