--- title: Obamacare: Signup Period Extended for Affordable Care Act description: The Obama administration is giving an extra window of opportunity to Americans who begin the Affordable Care Act signup process by the March 31 deadline but don't finish it before the day's over canonical: https://time.com/38077/obamacare-extension/ author: Alex Fitzpatrick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-26T02:41:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T11:29:07.673Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obamacare: Signup Period Extended for Affordable Care Act og:description: The Obama administration is giving an extra window of opportunity to Americans who begin the Affordable Care Act signup process by the March 31 deadline but don't finish it before the day's over og:url: https://time.com/38077/obamacare-extension/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56fbba289e0660ad/6986873ce53aba73354d1ad2/time-a-obamacare-extension-140325.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3631 og:image:height: 2042 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama speaks on economic opportunity for women and working families at Valencia College in Orlando, Fla. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obamacare: Signup Period Extended for Affordable Care Act twitter:description: The Obama administration is giving an extra window of opportunity to Americans who begin the Affordable Care Act signup process by the March 31 deadline but don't finish it before the day's over twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56fbba289e0660ad/6986873ce53aba73354d1ad2/time-a-obamacare-extension-140325.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Gives Americans Extra Time to Sign Up for Obamacare > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Alex Fitzpatrick](https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/) and [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) Mar 26, 2014 2:41 AM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks on economic opportunity for women and working families at Valencia College in Orlando, Fla., March 20, 2014. President Barack Obama speaks on economic opportunity for women and working families at Valencia College in Orlando, Fla., March 20, 2014. Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images by [Alex Fitzpatrick](https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/) and [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) Mar 26, 2014 2:41 AM UTC The Obama administration is giving an extra window of opportunity to Americans who begin the Affordable Care Act signup process by the March 31 deadline but don’t finish it before the day’s over. Under the new law, [most uninsured Americans](http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/13/news/economy/obamacare-penalty/) must either purchase a health insurance plan or pay a penalty. The White House’s new grace period for signups does not constitute a delay in the institution of that penalty. Instead, it’s being cast as a small window of opportunity for those who begin the process by the deadline day but are unable to finish signing up for technical or other reasons. “Open enrollment ends March 31,” Health and Human Services spokeswoman Joanne Peters said in a statement. “We are experiencing a surge in demand and are making sure that we will be ready to help consumers who may be in line by the deadline to complete enrollment—either online or over the phone.” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus criticized the Obama administration’s new signup window as a “delay.” “Another day, another Obamacare delay from the same Obama administration that won’t work with Republicans to help Americans suffering from the unintended consequences of the Democrats’ failed healthcare law,” said Priebus in a statement. “Democrats in leadership may say they are doubling down on Obamacare but you have to wonder how many more unilateral delays their candidates running in 2014 can withstand.” White House spokesman Jay Carney hinted at a possible [Obamacare signup extension](http://www.cnbc.com/id/101515907) late last week. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/38077/obamacare-extension/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/38077/obamacare-extension/"},"headline":"White House Gives Americans Extra Time to Sign Up for Obamacare","datePublished":"2014-03-26T02:41:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:29:07.673Z","description":"The White House is giving Americans who begin the Affordable Care Act signup process on or before the March 31 a little extra time to complete it, a move top Republicans are already knocking as just another Obamacare delay","url":"https://time.com/38077/obamacare-extension/","keywords":["Health Care","Obamacare","health insurance","Barack Obama","Affordable Care Act","White House","obama administration"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56fbba289e0660ad/6986873ce53aba73354d1ad2/time-a-obamacare-extension-140325.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Fitzpatrick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56fbba289e0660ad/6986873ce53aba73354d1ad2/time-a-obamacare-extension-140325.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama speaks on economic opportunity for women and working families at Valencia College in Orlando, Fla.","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks on economic opportunity for women and working families at Valencia College in Orlando, Fla.","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/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/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/38077/obamacare-extension/","name":"White House Gives Americans Extra Time to Sign Up for Obamacare"}}]}] ```