The federal online marketplace selling newly available health insurance in 36 states continued to frustrate consumers Wednesday with delays and software failures, although some reported success in signing up.
Horacio Castaneda, left, helped Rosa Ayala Cruz apply for health insurance at the Denver Health Westside Family Health Center on Tuesday (Photo by Chris Schneider/Getty Images).
鈥淚 get on the page. It loads. Then something doesn鈥檛 happen,鈥� said Ben Robertson, a New Hampshire actor and consultant who chronicled his 30-plus failed enrollment attempts on Twitter (), complete with screenshots.
But he was making progress. Earlier he got a confirmation email but was unable to complete registration. Wednesday afternoon he succeeded in registering but couldn鈥檛 log on.
The site, HealthCare.gov, worked smoothly early Wednesday while application counselors at Southeastern Virginia Health System enrolled two consumers, said system spokeswoman Sylvia Whitaker.
But Whitaker expected the site 鈥渢o start clogging up鈥� later in the morning. 鈥淚 guess that鈥檚 the busiest time of the day,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople get lunch breaks and they have access, and that鈥檚 when they get on.鈥�
The government counseled patience.
鈥淰olume at HealthCare.gov continues to be high, with 4.7 million unique visits in the first 24 hours,鈥� said Joanne Peters, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services. 鈥淲e expect to see similar volume [on Wednesday] as yesterday. While this overwhelming interest is continuing to cause wait times, there will be continuing improvements in the coming hours and days.鈥�
HHS operates the marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act for the more than 30 states that declined to build their own sites or that partnered with the federal government. State-operated sites in Maryland, Minnesota, Connecticut, Rhode Island, California and elsewhere appeared to be working.
HHS reminds consumers lacking insurance that they have until Dec. 15 to sign up to get coverage starting Jan. 1, and until March 31 before the enrollment period ends.
The federal shutdown wasn鈥檛 helping the process. Patsy Dowling, executive director of Mountain Projects, a North Carolina nonprofit enrolling consumers, said she can鈥檛 get questions answered from the government because her contact at HHS was furloughed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of amusing,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he biggest change since Medicare and the government shuts down.鈥�
Meanwhile, the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, which won a $524,000 federal 鈥渘avigator鈥� grant to help consumers use the federal exchange, has not been able to access Healthcare.gov Tuesday or Wednesday. 鈥淲e have not been able to get to see any insurance plans in Kansas,鈥� said spokeswoman Katrina McGivern. She said in the training last month officials advised the navigators to not even try to get people enrolled the first week for fear the website would be flooded.
In Florida, groups trying to aid consumers also reported problems Wednesday.
鈥淚鈥檝e had no access at all today or yesterday,鈥� said Fabienne Pierre, navigator for the Sickle Cell Foundation of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. For now she is telling people who call to set up appointments in the next few weeks.
The University of South Florida was enrolling applicants on paper even though that requires more than one meeting with each consumer, said Jodi Ray, director of the signup project.
鈥淲e have been trying to get online virtually nonstop since 5 a.m. Tuesday and have not been able to,鈥� John Foley, who supervises navigators at the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been complete gridlock,鈥� said Julian Lago, an insurance agent in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
At the Southern United Neighborhoods鈥� office in the Dallas area, 鈥渟ome people got up to entering their income and then [the site] freezes it,鈥� director Marie Hurt said Wednesday. 鈥淢ost of the time you can鈥檛 even log in. Nobody has been able to see their plans.鈥�
At Oak Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Hernando, Miss., the software seemed to be working a little better Wednesday, 鈥渂ut we鈥檙e not able to get anything completed,鈥� said Minnie Wilkinson.
A continuing problem was the 鈥渟ecurity question鈥� for users to validate their identity, which HHS officials said was caused by volume, not software flaws.
In New Hampshire, the site cued Robertson to call an 800 number after he registered but was unable to log in.
鈥淚 got through to somebody really quickly,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he told me that a lot of people are not able to log in to the site just because of traffic. What she recommended was waiting for a couple hours.鈥�