Health Care Reform

Health Insurance Marketplace Open for Business – Week One Success


Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—October 4, 2013. The Health Insurance Marketplace is open for business, and the first week showed the pent up demand that Americans have for affordable, quality health coverage. Americans across the nation have started enrolling in the Health Insurance Marketplace, and the system is working.

Americans are excited to look at their options for health coverage, with record demand in the first days of the Marketplaces. HHS continues to work with consumers every hour today and through the next six months. People have until December 15 to apply for coverage starting January 1, 2014

Experts are working around the clock to make the site better able to meet the volume created by consumers’ overwhelming interest in their new health coverage options. There have been sustained improvements to the consumer experience and that trend is expected to continue.

Operations

As we finish the week, traffic on the web site and at the call center continues to be high, suggesting a sustained interest by consumers in their health coverage options. Since Tuesday:

HealthCare.gov has received 8.6 million unique visitors;

Our call center has received 406,000 calls;

We have received 225,000 requests for online chats.

In the first days of being online, one-third of visitors accessed educational information on HealthCare.gov, while two-thirds accessed the marketplace to begin their application and shop for plans.

To make further improvements to the system, we will be taking down the application part of the website for scheduled maintenance during off-peak hours over the weekend. The enhancements we are making will enable more simultaneous users to successfully create an account and move through the application and plan shopping process. During the scheduled maintenance, the call center will still be available to assist consumers throughout the night. We expect that Monday, less than a week after the Marketplace opening, there will be significant improvements in the online consumer experience. 

Specific measures we are taking to improve the system include:

Extra space for more users to get onto the system

More technicians working around the clock to find problems and rapidly fix them

More trained representatives ready to take your calls at our Marketplace toll-free number, with wait times now less than one minute

New pathways to get you to the application faster

What they’re saying:

Mullaney:  Look past its start-up glitches — they’ll get fixed — HealthCare.gov is an out-of-the-box success for consumers shopping for health insurance. “Two main questions will matter once they’re fixed.  The most important is whether HealthCare.gov meets its fundamental task — creating a marketplace with an array of choices and competitive prices. The other is whether it explains insurance so people understand it — how to buy it, why they should, how the law’s subsidies work, and helps them start grasping which policy works for them.  On those counts, HealthCare.gov is an out-of-the-box success.” [Mullaney, USA Today, 10/3/13]

Cigna: “Folks are looking at plans…The bottom line for us is that the system is working. It’s very encouraging.” “Cigna, which is selling on five state marketplaces, began seeing enrollments come through Wednesday night after two days with no sign-ups. “My understanding is there’s not a heck of a lot of enrollments across the industry, which is reasonable” he said. “Folks are looking at plans. We don’t expect enrollments to go from a trickle to a wave until November. The bottom line for us is that the system is working. It’s very encouraging.” [Washington Post Wonkblog 10/3/13]

Molina Healthcare Chief Executive: “It’s Working.” “’It’s definitely working,’ said Mario Molina, chief executive of Molina Healthcare., which is offering plans in nine states, including several on the exchange being run by the federal government. ‘I know people have been having difficulty accessing Web sites, but I am told by staff that they were able to get into every state Web site. It’s working.’” [Washington Post Wonkblog, 10/3/13]

Mark McClellan, former CMS administrator: If the exchanges’ tech problems are resolved by November, no one will even remember what happened this week, according to Mark McClellan, former CMS administrator under President George W. Bush. He compared rollout to when the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit took effect:— Millions of seniors in different programs were enrolled into new drug plans, and the computer system fumbled the handoff for tens of thousands of people who really urgently needed their prescriptions, he said. By comparison, the frustration of not being able to shop online in the first days of the Obamacare exchanges is small potatoes, he suggested. [Politico 10/4/13]

Americans are enrolling, learning more about their options in the health insurance marketplace

Alabama

Sutton: After trying ‘everything,’ Montgomery videographer calls Affordable Care Act ‘a relief’. “For Joshua Pittman, a Montgomery resident and founder of The Bearded Man Film Co., health insurance is not an assumed benefit that comes along with the job of being a small business owner. ‘I think there’s a lot of misconceptions,’ said Pittman. ‘People don’t research it. Some just hear ‘Obamacare’ and decide to go against it. Looking at the alternative, it’s the best thing right now for me, and it terms of affordable healthcare, it works out perfectly.’  Pittman was unable to sign up due to heavy traffic, but plans to try again later. Open enrollment will be available until March 2014. ” [AL.com, 10/1/13] 

California

Kliff: “Stryker Is 34 Years Old And Lives In Los Angeles, Where He Now Does Freelance Work….‘I’ve Been Watching The News About The Government Shutdown,’ He Says”   “Stryker is 34 years old and lives in Los Angeles, where he now does freelance work. He pays a monthly premium around $600 to stay on the COBRA plan from a job he left four years ago. He has high blood pressure and says insurance companies have previously denied his applications for coverage on the individual market. ‘I figured this might cut my premiums in half and I’d be getting better service for half the price,’ he says….Asked what he did to keep busy while signing up, Stryker says he was mostly watching television if the computer froze for a bit. ‘I’ve been watching the news about the government shutdown,’ he says. ‘Obviously three hours is a long time to wait, but it will save me over $6,000. For that, I would have waited all day.’”  [Washington Post, 10/1/13]

Colorado

Young: Peg Perl: ACA Plans “Definitely A Lot More Affordable Than Things I Was Looking At” For The Past Three Years, Plans To Sign Up Her Children By November 15. “Despite the technical glitches, Americans like Peg Perl, 38, of Denver were still able to begin taking advantage of the health insurance exchanges to seek health plans for next year. Perl and her husband, who have health coverage from their jobs, plan to buy coverage for their two school-aged children, she said. ‘It’s definitely a lot more affordable than things I was looking at in 2010, 2011 and 2012,’ Perl said … Perl visited Connect for Health Colorado early Tuesday morning to comparison shop and avoided technical problems that some Coloradans found on the site by putting off creating an account for now, she said. After learning more information, like whether her children can still see their current doctors, Perl wants to buy a plan for her kids by Nov. 15.” [Huffington Post, 10/3/13]

Connecticut

Sturdevant: “…After Getting Around One Of The Expected Glitches In The System, 30-Year-Old Brendan Mahoney Of Hartford Said Signing Up Took Him About 20 Minutes….‘Once It Got Running, It Was Fast,’ Mahoney Said. ‘It Really Made My Day. It’s A Lot Like Turbotax.’”  “Connecticut’s new health exchange opened for business Tuesday, and after getting around one of the expected glitches in the system, 30-year-old Brendan Mahoney of Hartford said signing up took him about 20 minutes. Mahoney, a third-year law student at the University of Connecticut, said that by filling out the application online, he discovered he was eligible for Medicaid. So, beginning next year, he won’t pay any premium at all. In 2011 and 2012, Mahoney said, he was on a school-sponsored health plan costing about $2,400 a year. [Hartford Courant, 10/1/13] 

Illinois

Frost: Illinois resident on Obamacare web glitches: ‘Tell people to just keep trying’ “Kathy Kanak on Wednesday night laid to rest fears that no one in Illinois was able to sign up for new health insurance plans made available a day earlier under the Affordable Care Act. After several failed attempts to log on to a federal website that hosts the Illinois insurance exchange, the Libertyville 57-year-old finally broke through in the late afternoon and signed up for new coverage that starts in 2014 for herself and her husband, Brant.” [Chigaco Tribune, 10/3/13]

New Mexico

Domrzalski: One hundred New Mexico small businesses signed up to buy insurance on the New Mexico Health insurance Exchange in the exchange’s first six hours of operation Tuesday. New Mexico is operating a hybrid exchange, so the portion that relates to businesses is run by the state while the portion that relates to individuals is run by the federal government. And during the first six hours that the state’s exchange was open to the public,at least 100 small businesses signed up to buy health insurance under Obamacare. [Bizjournals, 10/1/13]

Texas

Flora Alexandra Who Has A Pre-Existing Condition And Believes She Will Save $500 Per Month, Had Trouble Getting On The Website But Was Determined To Enroll. Instead She Called The Toll Free Number And Enrolled In 15 Minutes. “For Flora Alexandra Brewer of Fort Worth, Wednesday was another day in front of the computer, staring at the same message on the same website, healthcare.gov. … The real estate development business owner who works from home kept trying to sign into the website. She is determined to participate in the exchange. ‘We have pre-existing conditions,’ said Brewer. ‘There’s nothing more expensive out there on any of the websites that I have looked at than what I am currently paying for COBRA.’ … For the past 10 months, she’s been paying around $1,900 a month for health insurance for her, her husband and one of her sons. She most likely will not qualify for any subsidies, but she believes she will save around $500 a month under the program commonly known as Obamacare. Those potential savings motivate Brewer not to give up on the exchange. And so, on Wednesday, she called the toll free number listed on healthcare.gov. She spoke to a representative and enrolled in 15 minutes. She will soon receive an email and a packet in the maildetailing the polices and rates she and her family are eligible for.” [KHOU, 10/2/13] 

Texas: Diana Moller Only Heard Negative Things About Obamacare In Texas, But Decided To Sign Up Anyway And Was Eager To Complete The Process As Soon As She Could. “Diana Moller didn’t expect that Obamacare would help her. Living in south Texas, she said, ‘all I ever hear about it is that it was pushed through and won’t work.’ The 61-year-old Texas native knew how important health insurance was, and used to buy it on her own because it wasn’t offered through her caregiver job. But after Diana fell at work and needed knee surgery, her premiums surged and, like so many Americans with pre-existing conditions, she could no longer afford insurance….Diana worked with Elizabeth Arellano, who walked her through the Obamacare process, showed her how to create an account for the exchanges, and answered any questions Diana had. The healthcare.gov website was still experiencing a surge in traffic during Diana’s consultation, but Elizabeth guided her through the website and how to navigate it at home. Speaking with ThinkProgress afterwards, Diana said the consultation was ‘very helpful” and she was eager to sign up on her home computer ‘as soon as I can.’” [Think Progress, 10/3/13]

Virginia

Svrluga:  Paula Thornhill, a 31-year-old mother of seven, was the first person to apply for a new plan in Prince William County. Her husband has health insurance through his job, but they couldn’t afford to pay the extra premium costs to cover her as well. “I’m relieved that they did come out with this affordable health care…I’m relieved.” [Washington Post, 10/1/13]

Source: hhs.gov

 


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