Insurance Sign-Ups Outpacing First Year Enrollment
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Insurance sign-ups under California's health care exchange are running ahead of the pace from a year ago, when the marketplace opened for the first time.
Covered California officials reported Thursday that 11,357 consumers had selected an insurance plan in the first four days of the second round of open enrollment.
Last year, when technical glitches and paperwork confusion marred the opening of the exchanges nationwide, it took 15 days to reach 11,000 plan selections.
Despite the strong start, the exchange is still struggling to help consumers. In October, three of every 10 calls to its service center were abandoned. The exchange set a goal of less than 3 percent.
The agency is trying to enroll 1.7 million people for private health coverage next year, which would include re-enrolling 1.1 million.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.