Washington, DC – Today, the DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority (HBX) Executive Board adopted a unanimous recommendation from its Standing Advisory Board to allow a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for District residents to sign up for health insurance coverage from December 16, 2017 through January 31, 2018. This action effectively provides District residents a three month open enrollment period of November 1, 2017 through January 31, 2018, with the same calendar days and amount of time to enroll as last year’s Open Enrollment Period.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final Insurance Market Stability regulation in April that shortens the upcoming enrollment period for HealthCare.gov to six weeks (November 1, 2017 through December 15, 2017). CMS recognized that state-based marketplaces may want to have longer enrollment opportunities for their residents. Recognizing that a three month open enrollment period works best for District residents, the HBX Executive Board adopted this recommendation from its Standing Advisory Board.

“Our first priority is protecting every opportunity for District residents to obtain affordable health insurance,” said Diane C. Lewis, M.P.A., chair of the DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority Executive Board. “The stabilization regulations provide state-based marketplaces this necessary flexibility, and an enrollment period from November 1, 2017 through January 31, 2018 is what we’ve planned for, what our customers expect, and what will work best for District residents.”