This would require a lame-duck Congress and, if Mr Obama loses, a lame-duck president to haggle over extending policies they detest.Since they seem unable to come to an agreement before the election, Congress and the president should push the decision beyond it by just enough to minimise these risks.
Would he make bargains with Democrats on subjects about which he has far deeper convictions (say, Iraq) for the sake of extending policies he didn't vote for?
Insurers themselves may opt not to extend policies they've already cancelled.
Under the new rule, the limit would be 364 days, and insurers would be allowed, but not required, to extend policies.
8.33pm GMT If the president says insurers can extend policies but the insurers choose not to – or state commissioners get in the way of extensions – will blame for policy cancellations shift from the White House to insurance companies?
In November, President Obama, responding to criticism about widespread cancellation of individual policies, said insurers could extend policies that do not meet the law's requirements for an additional year, if state regulators agreed.
Already, some states, including Washington and Arkansas, have said they will not allow insurers to extend policies that do not comply with the guidelines established by the minimum standards set by the Affordable Care Act.
And according to Kertesz, insurers often extend policies that originate in Medicaid and Medicare to their private patients.
Hawaii and Oregon, which have had website issues since their launches, plus Colorado and Kentucky, have all said they will extend policies.
And it's true that the law extended policies nationwide allowing young adults under age 26 to remain on their parents' plans.
Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina, which all depend on HealthCare.gov, have all said they will allow insurers to extend policies next year, which will allow plans to stay in place until 2015.
