Deadline Tuesday to enroll for health insurance

Tuesday is the deadline to enroll for health insurance through the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace and have coverage guaranteed by Jan. 1.

Members of the Consumers’ Choice Health Plan, which is terminating all of its policies as of Dec. 31, also should enroll in order to have health insurance in place on Jan. 1. Members who miss that deadline still could get coverage by Jan. 1 but will have to jump through a few more hoops, state Insurance Department director Ray Farmer said.

Farmer said Consumers’ Choice members should go online to Healthcare.gov, call 1-800-318-2596 or visit their local health insurance agent for assistance in getting new coverage.

As of June 1, 168,000 S.C. consumers had enrolled or obtained coverage through the federal exchange, Farmer said. About 67,000 of those policies were from Consumers’ Choice.

As of late last week, about 35 percent of Consumers’ Choice members had switched to a new insurance carrier, Farmer said.