UT group calls healthcare.gov "much improved"

President Obama's pledge to fix the technical issues plaguing healthcare.gov will help Utah and several other states. Image courtesy of whitehouse.gov.

SALT LAKE CITY – The Obama administration’s claims that healthcare.gov is working much better seem to be consistent with reports from the Utah Health Policy Project. Jason Stevenson, communications director with the policy project, said people are having a much better experience purchasing health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on healthcare.gov. The website experienced massive technical problems after it went live on Oct. 1.

Stevenson said Obama’s top tech team seems to have fixed many of the problems.

“What I’ve heard from our navigators today and yesterday is that the website is working very well,” Stevenson said. “They’re enrolling people in from 45 minutes to an hour. They’re getting through it, and they’re getting them to the point where they’re choosing their plans and purchasing them.”

The Utah Health Policy Project is one of the federally certified locations where people can enroll in the ACA.

ACA Open Enrollment does not end until March 31, 2014, but Stevenson said anyone who wants their insurance to start in January needs to sign up this month.

“If you want your insurance to start as soon as it can, if you’re waiting for insurance, if you’re uninsured, if you want to be insured, then you need to sign up by Dec. 23 in Utah to have that insurance start on the first day of the new year.”

Stevenson agreed with the Obama Administration that navigating healthcare.gov is 80 percent improved from where it was in October.

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