Sunday is last day for ‘Obamacare’ open enrollment

Sunday is the last day for consumers to buy an insurance plan through the Affordable Care Act.

Many enrollment events are being held in the Chicago area this weekend to help people buy a plan before the deadline. Some of those events will go until 10 p.m. or midnight. For events in your neighborhood, go to GetCoveredIllinois.gov or call the Get Covered Illinois Help Desk at 866-311-1119.

After Feb. 15, consumers who want an insurance plan through the marketplace will have to wait until next year’s open enrollment period, unless they qualify for a special enrollment period.

People who qualify for Medicaid, the state-federal program for low-income folks, can enroll at any time.

The penalty this year for not having health insurance — whether it be through work or through the marketplace — will be 2 percent of your income or $325 per person (whichever is higher), up from 1 percent or $95 from last year. And it will continue to increase.

If you already have health insurance through your job, Medicaid or Medicare, you’re fine.

As of Feb. 11, 305,570 Illinois consumers have purchased coverage, according to the federal government. That surpasses last year’s total of more than 217,000 people choosing a plan in Illinois, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

About 78 percent of Illinoisans who bought a 2015 insurance plan are expected to qualify for an average of $210 per person/month in advanced premium tax credits, the federal government has said.

But those tax credits could be in jeopardy if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Affordable Care Act is not legally allowed to provide such subsidies in states that do not have a state-based marketplace. About two-thirds of all states, including Illinois, have a federally run marketplace.