Reminder: The FINAL deadline for IDAHO residents to enroll is MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.

Mon, 12/15/2025 - 12:31pm

In my annual ACA Open Enrollment Guide, the first piece of advice is always to make sure you don't miss the deadline to enroll in healthcare coverage for the upcoming year.

I then list the various deadlines for people to get covered in each state, which is December 15th in most states for coverage starting January 1st (in a handful of states the deadline for January 1st coverage is as late as New Year's Eve).

I always include the caveat, though, that if you do miss that deadline, you still have an extra month or so (January 15th in most states) to enroll for coverage starting February 1st. This means that at worst, you'll have to "go bare" for the month of January (and pray you don't get sick or injured for those 31 days) before your coverage kicks in.

HOWEVER, there's an exception to this: IDAHO.

In Idaho, residents only have until December 15th to enroll in ACA coverage for 2026, period.

This means that unless Your Health Idaho announces a literal last-minute deadline extension (which seems unlikely), Idaho residents have less than 12 hours from this writing to enroll.

If you miss that deadline, then the only exceptions are the following:

Members of federally-recognized Native American tribes or Alaska Natives can enroll in ACA coverage year round.
Those eligible for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) can enroll year-round.

Otherwise, you would have to be eligible for a Special Enrollment Period (SEP), which means having a Qualifying Life Experience (QLE), such as:

Losing employer-sponsored healthcare coverage
Getting married or divorced
Giving birth/adopting a child
Turning 26 and having to move to your own policy
Losing eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP
Moving out of your current rating area

If you miss the midnight deadline and no QLEs apply to you over the course of 2026, you're out of luck and will not be eligible to enroll in ACA-compliant healthcare coverage again until next November.

SO DON'T MISS THE DEADLINE: ENROLL (LITERALLY) TODAY.