WASHINGTON — The number of visitors to the HealthCare.gov website
Wednesday hit 310,000 by noon, an 80% increase from the same day last
week, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
"HealthCare.gov
remains stable with more than 950,000 visitors to the site yesterday,"
said Julie Bataille, the centers' communications director.
Bataille, however, would not confirm reports published in Politico
that 29,000 people had enrolled in insurance from midnight Sunday to
midnight Monday. That exceeded the number of people who enrolled in
insurance during the entire month of October, when the federal exchange
site was mired in outages and delays.
"We certainly expect our enrollment numbers to increase," she said.
About
790,000 have visited the site specifically to use a new shopping
feature that doesn't require a log-in or any personal information,
Bataille said.
Bataille said some who tried to create an account
in October are still being delayed by the system. The government has
started sending e-mails and making telephone calls to those who began
but did not finish the enrollment process.
"Consumers who attempted to begin the account registration and application process will be hearing from us," she said.
Bataille also offered tips to those experiencing problems on the site, including:
•
Consumers stuck in the online application can start over by hitting a
new "restart" button. They should then close out the page, and then try
logging in again with the same account.
• For extra help, people may call the call center and speak to someone in person or call an insurer directly.
•
Those who are not sure whether their enrollment went through should pay
their first month's premium, and then call the insurer to check.
Bataille said the site now has a 0.6% error rate, as well as a response time of 630 milliseconds.
However,
she said officials are still working with insurers to fix data issues
with "834 forms," which give insurers information about their new
enrollees. Some of those forms have been inaccurate or incomplete.
Bataille said they believe 80% of the problems have been fixed, and they
have a team working to address remaining issues. They also talk with
insurers daily to detect problems, she said.
All of the paper
applications received in October have been processed, Bataille said.
Those still interested in using a paper form, rather than an online
application, still have time to do so. The form takes three to five
business days to process, and then the customer will learn whether he or
she is eligible for subsidies or Medicaid. After learning those
details, they may finish the enrollment process, she said.
Meanwhile
Wednesday, House Republicans continued their oversight and criticism of
the law. The House Ways and Means Committee conducted a hearing aimed
at "ways to mitigate the adverse impacts of the law on the American
people," while the the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
featured testimony from representatives of conservative groups as well
as a medical historian from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg
School of Public Health.
Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican and Oversight panel chairman, called the website's start a "disaster."
"In
many ways, it is a sign of a failed system that is often seen in the
federal government," Issa said. "The project's failure raises serious
questions on what hindrances government faces when it intervenes in the
private market."
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee's top Democrat, disputed the purpose of the hearing.
"I
believe the premise for today's hearing is fundamentally flawed," he
said. "Our country's experience with Social Security in 1935, Medicare
in 1965, and the prescription drug program in 2005 demonstrates that our
government is fully capable of overcoming initial problems with the
implementation of programs that help millions of people in their daily
lives."
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