Last call to apply for health insurance until 2015

This is it, folks:  If you haven't at least started an application for health insurance on your state's marketplace by midnight today, March 31, you won't be able to purchase a health plan again until next fall, and your coverage won't start until 2015.

But be prepared to have a LOT of company. On Sunday evening, HealthCare.gov, the marketplace handling enrollment for 36 states, reported receiving a record 2 million visitors over the weekend, and a record number of calls to its 800 number.  And local enrollment events attracted long lines of procrastinators.

The key is to set up an account and to initiate the application process, even if you can't finish it because the website is overloaded or the call center overwhelmed. "We're going to help customers who are in line by midnight," said Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services, which runs HealthCare.gov.  

This doesn't mean you can wait around forever, however. The feds say they will give a "limited amount of additional time" to sign up for those who didn't get the job done by March 31. They didn't give a precise cutoff date but "anticipate" that you'll get it done by April 15, in which case your new coverage will begin on May 1.

There are some exceptions to the deadline, however. If your income is very low and you live in a state that is expanding Medicaid to cover all low-income households, you can apply for Medicaid at any time.

You can also qualify for a "special enrollment period" that allows you to buy insurance outside open enrollment in specific circumstances, such as:

• Losing your insurance because you left a job (fired or quit, doesn't matter).
• The expiration of your current insurance, such as COBRA or an individual plan.
  
• Relocating outside your plan's geographic service area.
• Finding out that your application for Medicaid, which was submitted on your behalf by a state marketplace, was denied.
  
• Losing coverage because of divorce, death in the family, or getting kicked off your parents' plan when you turned 26.
• "Exceptional circumstances" such as a natural disaster or serious medical condition.
• Various mistakes by state marketplaces, state agencies, in-person assisters. (Here's a complete list.)
  

Got a question for our health insurance expert? Ask it here; be sure to include the state you live in. And if you can't get enough health insurance news here, follow me on Twitter @NancyMetcalf.

—Nancy Metcalf

We're providing regular coverage of the new health care law. To get health insurance advice tailored to your situation, use our Health Law Helper, below.