Gov says healthcare site is “Reliably Open for Business”

December 4, 2013

jill.dygert

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GTN News

Applying for government issued health insurance may be a little easier. The Obama administration says it met its goal to have the healthcare.gov website working smoothly for most users, but is it?
It’s been two months since the healthcare marketplace opened and officials say healthcare.gov is finally working and “reliably open for business.”

They say it’s working at least 90% of the time but one local woman says 90% is not enough for her to trust with her health.

“No. Not until they are 100% sure that they have all the glitches out of that computer. It’s so important because 90% isn’t going to do it.”

But officials say yesterday’s Operational Progress Report shows significant progress.
They fixed more than 400 bugs and they say the site is now operating at its intended capacity; it can host 50,000 users at a time and 800,000 a day.

Lauren Pollock is north central Florida’s Healthcare Navigator Coordinator. She says the site is working much better – most of the time.
“It’s been a lot more reliable in the few weeks. It’s been a little bit spotty sometimes but there’s alternative methods for applying, which our navigators do employ when that’s an issue. Which is the 1-800 number—the hotline. And there’s also the paper application.”

If you want your new coverage to start January 1st, you have 21 more days to get enrolled. Otherwise you have until March 31st before you get a penalty fee.

Officials say there will still be times the website can’t handle the demand, like during peak hours which Pollock says are 9:00-6:00.
She says when that happens you can request to get an email when it’s a better time to log back on.

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