The day to signup for 2014 Obamacare without creating a gap in coverage has been pushed back. This is odd since open enrollment (for this year only) extends to the end of March 2014, so the Dember 15th date didn’t mean much.
The actual purposes of this change is it gives insurance companies another month to see just how much money they’re losing on Obamacare guarantee issue policies. It will also push back the start of Obamacare open enrollment for 2015 (and the huge sticker shock) until November 15th – after the 2014 elections.
Time to change Obamacare security rules?
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/viewart/20131122/NEWS03/311220030/State-confirms-health-website-security-breach
To be fair, that problem happened on the Vermont run system not the one run by the Feds. My first guess from the limited information provided is someone probably was using the system over an unencrypted WiFi connection, allowing their login session to be hijacked. Preventing that requires the login process to be done via https:// so session cookies are encrypted and can’t be stolen by someone sitting nearby. That precaution has only been done for maybe 18 months. I don’t do it all here, so be forewarned if you access this guide in an airport waiting room, someone might see your list of favorite radio stations!
Astounding that an Obamacare site would not encrypt a login. True, Obamacare has many government subsites in addition to healthcare.gov – my understanding is that healthcare.gov will automatically send users to this Vermont subsite if the user self declares as a resident of Vermont.