Dive Brief:
- The deadline to sign up for health insurance under the ACA passed early Monday as a flurry of last-minute sign-ups were thwarted by technical glitches on the federal exchange website, Healthcare.gov, as well as some of the sites for state exchanges.
- States that have announced extensions due to glitches or other reasons include Rhode Island, which has extended signups until Feb. 23; California, which is allowing those who began applications by the original deadline another five days to finish; and New York, which is giving those who started to sign up on time an extra two extra weeks to finish.
- The HealthCare.gov blog invites those who were unable to complete enrollment on time due to glitches or long waits to complete their application by February 22: "Open enrollment is over. But if you were trying to enroll on February 15 and couldn't finish, you may still be able to get coverage," the site states.
Dive Insight:
The delays will mean continued sign-up activity and some confusion during this additional time before the final numbers of signups can be assessed to provide the industry with a complete overview of this year's enrollment.
The technical difficulties on Healthcare.gov reportedly stemmed from the income verification process, and took officials about six hours to get under control. Some state exchanges appeared to undergo similar problems. DHHS press secretary Katie Hill said the glitch was due to "intermittent issues with external verification sources."
The DHHS reported HealthCare.gov website traffic at 80,000 visitors at 8:30 p.m. Sunday—its highest volume since Dec. 15. In addition, the HealthCare.gov call center took more than 250,000 calls on Sunday.