Healthcare.gov - Nov. 19 Update - "Making the enrollment process easier"

[TomCADem]

Latest update from the ACA website:

http://www.hhs.gov/digitalstrategy/blog/2013/11/enrollment-process-easier.html

We continue to make measurable progress to improve HealthCare.gov, and to clear items from our punch list that will have a positive impact on consumers applying for and enrolling in quality health coverage.

As of this morning, we’ve completed fixes for two-thirds of the high priority bugs that our tech team working with issuers identified as being responsible for the issues with 834s transactions and Direct Enrollment.

For example:
•We’ve undertaken a fix that ensures a user can select the appropriate relationship to a dependent, such as mother, father or step-parent.
•Additionally, when a user checks family eligibility, the system now returns the primary tax filer as the primary applicant.

Other fixes that went in last night enhance the user experience by improving the Plan Compare function on Healthcare.gov.

For example:
•We’ve improved the filter for the “annual deductible” section so that it properly shows the minimum and maximum plan deductibles for the plans the user is considering.
•And we improved the user interface for when users click on the “Details” button of their selected plan.

We expect to make further progress in resolving high priority issues in the coming days, and we know that the work we’ve done will help consumers and issuers complete enrollments accurately and efficiently.

When we talk about enrollment, I want to remind consumers that one way to enroll is by going online directly to Healthcare.gov, but alternative pathways are available – by phone, in person with an assister, and by paper application.

For those who are not subsidy eligible, another way to enroll outside the Marketplace is to work exclusively through an insurer’s website, and never be connected to HealthCare.gov or the Hub. A calculation of subsidies would need to be reconciled and secured through the Hub.

We continue to work with issuers to improve our system and leverage more ways for consumers to enroll in quality affordable coverage.