Americans given additional 6 weeks to buy health insurance under PPACA

It was announced Wednesday night that the Obama Administration will give Americans six additional weeks to buy health care coverage before they incur a penalty, as is the rule under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

This moves the deadline to March 31 for those seeking coverage through the exchanges. Though many assumed this extension was related to the much-publicized technical issues associated with HealthCare.gov, admistration officials said the extended deadline is unrelated. They instead pointed to a "timing confusion" regarding PPACA.

Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney hinted at a change in deadline, stating that Health and Human Services officials wanted to do something about the conflict between the open enrollment deadline and the tax mandate deadline.