Question: Do people with existing “non-grandfathered” plans have to enroll in an ACA plan by March 31st or can they get a Special Enrollment when their plans renew after March 31st? Also can people with “grandfathered” plans get Special Enrollment if they want to enroll after March 31st?

Answer: All Carriers in the individual Exchange, chiefly Kaiser, Anthem, Blue Shield, Health Net - will end non-grandfathered coverage December 31, 2013 and migrate those members to ACA compliant plans on January 1, 2014. CIGNA is the only “big” individual health issuer in California not in the exchange, so they do not have to migrate their individual customers until their 2013 coverage expires in 2014. At that time, these policy holders will qualify for a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) if expiration of coverage is outside open enrollment. If people on grandfathered plans don’t voluntarily enroll in an ACA compliant plan before March 31, 2014, they have to wait until the next policy renewal date to to trigger a SEP.