State exchange reports 22,500 new people signed up for insurance coverage, with 70,000 renewals
Washington’s health insurance exchange is performing quite well during this open enrollment period. According to reports from the exchange, approximately 22,500 new people have signed up for coverage through the exchange marketplace. Another 70,000 people have renewed the coverage that they purchased through the exchange during the last open enrollment period. Washington residents may have run out of time to purchase coverage that will go into effect on January 1, 2015.
Policies purchased after Tuesday will not go into effect on January 1
Though the open enrollment period will run through February next year, consumers only had until Tuesday this week to purchase coverage that would go active on January 1, 2015. Policies purchased after Tuesday will go into effect at a later date, which may cause some issues for those with policies that are set to expire at the end of the month. Those with expired policies will, technically, be uninsured for a period of time before they new policies go into effect.
State initiatives help draw more attention to the insurance exchange
Officials with the state’s health insurance exchange noted that weekend traffic to the exchange website spiked significantly. The state has been working to encourage people to enroll for coverage through the exchange for some time, providing information concerning the exchange’s services and the financial support that can be obtained through the federal government. Thus far, the state’s exchange has avoided any severe technical difficulties, which has ensured that more people have gained access to health insurance coverage.
Exchanges have avoided many of the technical problems that plagued them last year
Last year, exchanges throughout the United States struggled to serve consumers. This was due to severe technical faults with the federal exchange infrastructure. These faults had made it impossible for some people to find the insurance coverage that they wanted. Over the past year, states have been trying to resolve the technical issues with their exchanges. These efforts have been quite effective, as most exchanges have managed to avoid any serious issues during the latest open enrollment period.
