More sign up for health care as website shakes glitches
After website glitches prevented enrollment in health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act, numerous sources told the Portland Press Herald that website fixes made last week are starting to boost enrollment in Maine.
While enrollment data beyond the website’s lackluster first month is not available, people responsible for helping others sign up for insurance through the website and other means told the paper the success rate of signups has increased significantly. Federal officials reported that between the website’s launch Oct. 1 and Nov. 1, only about 7% of Maine residents who began applying for health insurance through the website successfully picked a plan at the end of the process. Jake Grindle, a federally funded navigator for the health insurance exchange with Western Maine Community Action in Wilton, told the paper that the website showed “dramatic improvement” last week, allowing every person he’d try to sign up complete the process.
Federal officials have a goal of the website to be working properly by Nov. 30 and have so far rewritten around 5 million lines of computer code for the troubled healthcare.gov. The group Consumers for Affordable Health Care estimates that between 50,000 to 75,000 Mainers will ultimately sign up for insurance through the exchange.
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