The Obamacare enrollment website HealthCare.gov is still having technical problems, as consumer advocates report continued glitches and misinformation as the deadline to enroll approaches.
Illinois customers who completed the enrollment were told they were eligible for subsidized health care, but received a message saying no plans were available to them in their area, The Associated Press reported.
Stephani Becker of the National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago told The AP the glitch began late last week and continued into Monday. Becker also said the issue extends beyond Illinois into other states, and believes consumers might give up and “just walk away” when faced with such an obstacle.
President Donald Trump’s administration’s decision to cut funding for Obamacare navigators may cause the process to become even more confusing, as navigators are tasked with helping consumers find the health plan that’s best suits them. Some navigator programs may be cut by as much as 90 percent.
The deadline to enroll in Obamacare — former President Barack Obama’s signature health law — is Friday Dec. 15, and a last-minute push is expected as millions of patients seek to shore up health insurance for 2018. The increased volume of customers may dramatically slow the site, and even cause it to crash.
This wouldn’t be the first time HealthCare.gov has faced technical problems. During the initial roll out in 2013, former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called the site a “miserably frustrating experience” and said the federal government had underestimated how disorganized it actually was.
The site continued to experience a series of crashes and delays, prompting Obama to apologize to the American people for the botched roll out.
“We worked hard to try to make sure that we implemented it [Obamacare] properly,” Obama told Chuck Todd of MSNBC in a 2013 interview. “But obviously we didn’t do a good enough job, and I regret that.”
Some states such as New York and California are extending the deadline past the 15th, and those living in hurricane ravaged areas like Texas and Florida will have until Dec. 31st to enroll, The AP reports.
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