The head of Washington state’s marketplace for health insurance plans warned that a new federal rule to narrow the enrollment window will adversely affect people’s ability to get the insurance required by the Affordable Care Act.
Under the federal rule, which would go into effect in about two months, the open enrollment period for the 2027 plan year would end on Dec. 31, 2026, shortening it from past enrollment periods. The open enrollment period for the 2026 plan year would be unchanged from Nov. 1, 2025, to Jan. 15, 2026.
Ingrid Ulrey, CEO of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, said the change in the enrollment period, along with proposals to cut Medicaid and to allow the expiration of premium tax credits at the end of this year, could cause up to half of current policy holders to lose eligibility or drop coverage due to high expense.
This will especially affect customers in rural parts of the state, small business employees and the self-employed, as they make up the largest portion of policyholders enrolled in plans through the Washington Health Benefit Exchange.
“While administration officials claim this is necessary to prevent unauthorized enrollments, we know that in Washington, robust safeguards and verification systems are already in place,” Ulrey said in a written statement.” The only clear outcome of this rule will be to prevent authorized enrollments in private health insurance plans that nearly 300,000 Washingtonians rely on.”
