--- title: Obamacare's Last Week of Signups: What You Need to Know description: March 31 is the date to circle on your health insurance calendar canonical: https://time.com/36118/obamacare-sign-up-affordable-care-act/ author: Francesca Trianni article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-24T21:44:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:56:15.604Z article:section: Health og:title: Obamacare's Last Week of Signups: What You Need to Know og:description: March 31 is the date to circle on your health insurance calendar og:url: https://time.com/36118/obamacare-sign-up-affordable-care-act/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5643a16ed449ce62/69868702adae449bae5421ef/187238630.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Obamacare Expedited Bid Process Limited Who Could Build Website og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obamacare's Last Week of Signups: What You Need to Know twitter:description: March 31 is the date to circle on your health insurance calendar twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5643a16ed449ce62/69868702adae449bae5421ef/187238630.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obamacare's Last Week of Signups: What You Need To Know > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Mar 24, 2014 9:44 PM UTC  The Healthcare.gov website is displayed on laptop computers arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013\. The race to construct an online insurance exchange by Oct. 1 spurred the Obama administration to use an expedited bidding system that limited its choice of a builder to just four companies, including CGI Group Inc. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Healthcare.gov website is displayed on laptop computers arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013\. The race to construct an online insurance exchange by Oct. 1 spurred the Obama administration to use an expedited bidding system that limited its choice of a builder to just four companies, including CGI Group Inc. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Mar 24, 2014 9:44 PM UTC We’re a few days away from the biggest Obamacare deadline yet. President Barack Obama has[ been making](http://time.com/31679/ellen-degeneres-selfie-barack-obama/) [a final push](http://time.com/35927/obama-quora-affordable-care-act/) for health insurance enrollment because Monday, March 31 is the last day to buy individual health care plans under the Affordable Care Act. Most Americans must be enrolled in health coverage by next Monday or pay a penalty under the new law. More than 5 million people have enrolled in private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act since open enrollment began on October 1, the Obama administration [said](http://news.yahoo.com/u-administration-says-obamacare-enrollment-tops-5-million-001926702--sector.html) last week. Millions of uninsured Americans were expected to receive coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act through private marketplaces and an expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor. However, as the deadline to sign up for HealthCare.gov looms, many will remain uninsured,[ the Associated Press reports.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/24/obamacare-uninsured%5Fn%5F5016432.html) Watch the video above for details. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/36118/obamacare-sign-up-affordable-care-act/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/36118/obamacare-sign-up-affordable-care-act/"},"headline":"Obamacare's Last Week of Signups: What You Need To Know","datePublished":"2014-03-24T21:44:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:56:15.604Z","description":"March 31 is the date to circle on your health insurance calendar","url":"https://time.com/36118/obamacare-sign-up-affordable-care-act/","keywords":["Obamacare","health insurance","Affordable Care Act","Obama","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5643a16ed449ce62/69868702adae449bae5421ef/187238630.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Francesca Trianni","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5643a16ed449ce62/69868702adae449bae5421ef/187238630.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obamacare Expedited Bid Process Limited Who Could Build Website","caption":"Obamacare Expedited Bid Process Limited Who Could Build Website","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/obamacare/","name":"Obamacare"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/36118/obamacare-sign-up-affordable-care-act/","name":"Obamacare's Last Week of Signups: What You Need To Know"}}]}] ```