Healthcare.gov to Returning Obamacare Customers: 'We’ll TRY To Enroll You Automatically'

    People who signed up for health insurance through Healthcare.gov in 2013 might have deja vu this November. New information posted on the website indicates that everyone, new or returning customers, choosing a new plan or sticking with the current one, must complete five steps to get or maintain coverage for 2015. A new blog post on the site says:

To stay covered through the Marketplace for 2015, you’ll need to follow 5 Steps during Open Enrollment...You’ll need to complete all 5 Steps to staying covered in the Health Insurance Marketplace (PDF) to finish enrolling in a health plan, even if you want to stay in the same plan.

Returning customers will have one month (November 15 to December 15) to continue coverage beginning January 1, 2015. The five steps are:

1. Review your current plan’s 2015 health coverage and costs.
2. Update your Marketplace application, starting November 15.
3. Compare the health plans available to you in 2015.
4. Choose the plan that best meets your needs.
5. Enroll in the health plan you want for 2015 coverage, by December 15, 2014.

What happens if a customer does not finished all five steps by December? A flyer produced by Healthcare.gov says, " If you don’t finish all of the steps by December 15, we’ll try to enroll you automatically so you stay covered.  But this coverage might not be your best option for 2015 and you could miss out on cost savings."

    The flyer does not explain exactly what will happen if Healthcare.gov "tries" and fails, or which steps, if left incomplete, will prevent the automatic enrollment from succeeding.