Year-End Signups Crucial Test for Health Care Site

President Barack Obama’s new and improved health care website faces yet another test in just a couple of weeks, its biggest yet. If HealthCare.gov becomes overwhelmed by an expected year-end crunch, many Americans will be left facing a break in their insurance coverage.

Until now, the main damage from the website’s technology woes has been to Obama’s poll ratings. But if it chokes again, it will be everyday people feeling the consequences.

Some of those at risk are among the more than 4 million consumers whose individual policies have been canceled because the coverage didn’t comply with requirements of the new health care law. A smaller number, several hundred thousand, are in federal and state programs for people whose health problems already were a barrier to getting private insurance before the overhaul.

“The chances are almost 100 percent that someone who would like to continue coverage next year and intends to secure it is not going to be able to do it,” said Mark McClellan, who oversaw the rollout of the Medicare prescription drug benefit under President George W. Bush.

“It’s important to recognize that none of these programs are going to work perfectly from the start and a big part of implementation is having mechanisms in place that anticipate problems and help mitigate their effects,” added McClellan, now a health care policy expert with the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.

But on Monday, administration officials projected renewed confidence that they’re on top of things. White House spokesman Jay Carney declared that the federal site serving 36 states got 375,000 visitors by noon.

Even as fixes continued on back-end features of the system, enrollment counselors said the consumer-facing front end was working noticeably better — but still was not free of glitches or delays. As Carney acknowledged, some of Monday morning’s visitors were shuttled into a queue and advised when to return for speedier service. That’s actually an improvement to handle high volume, he said.

The health care law offers subsidized private insurance to middle class people who don’t have access to job-based coverage. The White House is aiming for 7 million people to enroll for private plans through new state-based marketplaces also called exchanges. Low-income people will be steered to an expanded version of Medicaid in states accepting it. People have until Dec. 23 to sign up for coverage that starts on Jan. 1.

An even bigger enrollment surge is expected the first part of next year, ahead of a March 31 deadline to avoid the law’s tax penalties for those who remain uninsured.

This article appeared in print on page 3 of the December 3rd, 2013 edition of Hamodia.