Website Problems, Phone Delays Reported In 2nd Year Of Covered California Enrollment
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Covered California officials say the first weekend of open enrollment for the second round of state-subsidized health insurance was busy and that they learned a lot from the first time around. However, some early shoppers found out, not all the technical difficulties have been worked out and are plaguing potential enrollees.
Igal Koiman is a Peninsula insurance broker who's helping his 300 clients enroll, renew or upgrade their Covered California plans. Despite assurances from state officials that the website errors that plagued the first open enrollment were fixed, he's telling them they need to try again.
"They improved some functions, but it's still the same old same. Usually [the site] is down after hours. The only problem is during the day it's difficult to get in sometimes. After hours, they close the system for maintenance," he said.
And if you try calling, Koiman says expect to be on hold for a while. He said a lot of his clients want to change plans.
Dana Howard with Covered California said they had some hiccups over the weekend with people confused about how the website works, but he said people are getting signed up.
"There were some issues with the web page, but they were not significant. For instance, some people that were using a particular browser were experiencing problems seeing the page and as soon as they maybe clicked on a different link, or entered CoveredCa.com manually, the page popped right up," Howard said.
The deadline to begin coverage on Jan. 15, 2015, is Dec. 15, which is also the deadline to renew or change existing Covered California health insurance and maintain continuous coverage and avoid paying a tax penalty, according to state officials.
The deadline to enroll in Covered California health coverage in 2015 is Feb. 15, 2015, which is also the deadline to apply for financial assistance.
Covered California is hoping to enroll a half million people by February 15th.