Problems with health insurance exchanges persist
The problematic launch of health insurance exchanges throughout the U.S. has led to harsh criticism against the federal government. Open enrollment for these exchanges began on October 1 of this year and most exchanges were flooded by people looking for information concerning health insurance and the options they had become available to them. The problem, however, was hat most exchanges were not prepared to handle the traffic coming their way, and technical difficulties led to frustration among consumers.
Federal government continues to work to resolve issues
The Obama administration has taken note of the ongoing issues regarding both federal and state-based health insurance exchanges and the federal government, through the Department of Health and Human Services, has been working to address the issue aggressively. The federal gateway for exchanges, HealthCare.gov, had been estimated to begin operating smoothly beginning on November 30 as hardware and software issues were resolved. White House officials suggest that this target date may be too optimistic, however.
Private providers may play a larger role in exchanges
As the federal government works to address the issues concerning health insurance exchanges, it is beginning to rely more on private insurance providers. Insurance companies are well versed in the issues that can arise with the introduction of new technology and software, though not necessarily on a nationwide scale. Insurers are showing their eagerness to play a larger role in the issue concerning health insurance exchanges, but their participation would require the ability to access federal tools that are connected to the exchange infrastructure itself, which is currently unavailable due to technical issues.
HealthCare.gove targeted by DOS attack
The problems faced by HealthCare.gov are not entirely due to hardware and software shortcomings. Arbor Networks, a security software provider, has discovered that the federal website has been targeted by a denial-of-service (DOS) attack. While the firm noted that the attack was unlikely to have affected the availability of the site in any significant way, it does show that there are other factors in play rather than faulty hardware and software.
