As somebody whose try to apply right now. It's because they made it easy to not apply. If the goal is give people healthcare why have these deadlines to punish people who don 't make it.
The Civil service has been offered insurance with this feature for a long time , so I understand this bit.
Any insurance scheme that features coverage of preexisting conditions , will also feature some limit to signing up like this .
There is an open season every year when you may buy insurance or make changes in coverage level , or swap insurance companies.
This is because of the feature of covering previously existing conditions.
If they allowed people to buy insurance after they had a problem , people would often just wait for the problem and then buy the insurance.
This would not spread the risk over the population and the insurance would not gather any money.
By requiring that the insurance be bought during open season , the insurance companies manage to get enough healthy subscribers to cover the sick ones and also profit.
Insurance can also be bought after major life changes , like marriage or birth, to encourage buying family plans.
I think that when the Affordable Health Care Act is repealed , this feature might be worth saving, perhaps in and of itself in a simple bill so that the already ill can get some coverage.