WASHINGTON, Oct 11: The US administration has a little over a month to fix the technology problems crippling its online health insurance marketplace, or jeopardize the goal of signing up millions of Americans in time for benefits under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, experts said.
Problems with the federal marketplace’s entry portal serving 36 states, the website Healthcare.Gov, continued for a 10th day yesterday despite signs of gradual improvement, keeping a brake on the ability of consumers to shop for federally subsidized health coverage.
Poor turnout in enrollment would provide further ammunition for Republican foes of Obamacare, whose efforts to kill the law have culminated in a federal government shutdown that began on October. 1, coinciding with the launch of the health insurance exchanges nationwide.
Already yesterday, Republican lawmakers in Congress launched a new investigation into the technical glitches, sending letters to US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and two of the website’s contractors, asking for details on what is causing the failures and any system changes or testing that had been performed.
Up to 7 million Americans are expected to enroll in health plans for 2014 under the law, formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Insurance executives, policy experts and former administration officials said the federal government’s technical problems need to be largely sorted out by mid-November.
That would help ensure that large numbers of enrollees – especially healthy young adults needed to make the program work financially – can be processed by a Dec. 15 deadline for Jan. 1 coverage.
“Mid-November would be a time where folks who are getting online or accessing in other ways should really see things move pretty efficiently,” Dan Hilferty, chief executive of Philadelphia-based Independence Blue Cross, said in an interview. “As we get closer to Jan. 1, if in fact some of these glitches are not fixed, then I think people will become more and more concerned, and maybe panic about it.”
“We have a strong team in place, including external contractors, who are working around the clock to improve Healthcare.Gov. We have a plan in place and are making progress, but we will not stop until the doors to Healthcare.Gov are wide open,” HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters said in a statement yesterday.
(AGENCIES)
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