ObamaCare enrollment still faces technical challenges as the process
enters its second week, raising the stakes for the administration as
they seek to build momentum for the exchanges.
Visitors to
healthcare.gov experienced prolonged waits as of late Friday, though the
site was substantially faster and less error-ridden than earlier in the
week.
Federal health officials have blamed the problems on heavy traffic,
estimating that 8.6 million people visited the ObamaCare site this week.
The
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said its call center had
fielded 406,000 calls and that there have been 225,000 requests for
online chats.
In a memo late Friday, HHS claimed "success" for week one and urged patience as technicians improve the system.
"Experts
are working around the clock to make the site better able to meet the
volume created by consumers’ overwhelming interest in their new health
coverage options," the department stated.
"There have been sustained improvements to the consumer experience and that trend is expected to continue."
Officials announced they would take down parts of the enrollment site for scheduled maintenance during off-peak weekend hours.
The goal, according to HHS, is enhancing the site's capacity and achieving "significant improvements" by Monday.
Republican staffers quickly mocked the move on Twitter.
"Oh
wow. The ObamaCare website is being taken down this weekend — for
'improvements,'" spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) Brendan
Buck tweeted on Friday.
The maintenance effort comes after a
rocky first and second day for the new health insurance marketplaces. At
first, some users waited all day to enter healthcare.gov and many
exited the site after receiving error messages or arriving at pages with
nonsense text.
The online portal is under intense scrutiny
because it was designed as the central way for the uninsured to obtain
healthcare coverage under ObamaCare.
The system is complex in its
structure, allowing users to determine their eligibility for federal
discounts as they comparison shop for and ultimately purchase health
insurance.
President Obama and his deputies predicted "glitches"
in the process over the last several months but have sought to assure
consumers that the system will function as planned.
This push for
confidence comes amid strong criticism of the exchanges' rollout from
Republican lawmakers and campaign committees.
The Republican
National Committee hammered the marketplaces several days in a row,
releasing a web video that juxtaposed Obama's comments with reports of
problems with the exchanges.
The 79-second spot pushed Obama to
delay the healthcare law's individual mandate with the reasoning that
larger employers will not be required to offer health coverage until
2015.
Federal health officials are hoping to enroll millions of
people in the new marketplaces during the six-month open enrollment
period.
Opponents of the healthcare law are fighting these efforts with criticism of the prices available on the marketplaces.
Next
week will see increased pressure for HHS to report how many people have
successfully signed up for coverage. The department was not releasing
those figures as of Friday.
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