Originally Posted by kane

There are actually a lot of insurance companies that have open enrollment periods and if you miss them you have to qualify for a special enrollment. There are also many that don't. What I read a little while back is that the time when the enrollment is closed is used to process claims etc and that information is used to set the costs for the next year. I'm not sure why they can't do that while still letting people enroll, but I guess, like MaDalton said, people would just not buy it until the day they needed it.

There are special enrollment options for Obamacare. An 18-year-old kids whose parents died and now he needs insurance would likely qualify for special enrollment.