Health insurance exchange shows strong results in first week of operation
California’s health insurance exchange has been open for over one week and has been showing impressive results. The exchange, called Covered California, was one of the first to take form in the U.S. after the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. California has been a strong advocate for the health care law since then, working to aggressively promote the law’s provisions and enact its regulations on the health insurance industry. State officials suggest that the performance of Covered California thus far is “nothing short of phenomenal.”
More than 16,000 households sign up for coverage
Covered California has recorded 16,311 households that have signed up for health insurance coverage. Another 27,305 have created accounts through the exchange’s website and have partially completed applications for coverage. Within the first week that the exchange was opened, more than 1 million people came to the exchange’s website looking for information concerning health insurance coverage. Some 59,000 calls were logged through the exchange as well, coming from consumers interested in learning more about the health insurance exchange.
Technical difficulties plague some exchanges
Throughout the U.S., health insurance exchanges have been suffering from some turbulence. Many websites have encountered technical difficulties that have made it impossible for consumers to sign up for health insurance coverage. Some of these problems are linked to the massive amount of traffic that exchange websites are receiving. New York’s exchange, for instance, received more than 10 million visitors in its first day of operation. Covered California has experienced similar difficulties to exchanges in other states, but it has recovered quite quickly in comparison.
Consumers eager to research policies and federal regulations
State officials are claiming that the exchange’s growing popularity is proof that the demand for affordable health insurance coverage is high among consumers. Many people are flocking to the exchange to find policies that suit their needs as well as learn more about the Affordable Care Act. Notably, many of the people coming to the exchange are taking time to research policies and better understand the federal guidelines that govern the exchange as a whole.
