A day after the government proudly declared it had met its weekend deadline for making HealthCare.gov operate smoothly for most users, it admitted Americans would still have problems enrolling online.
Aides to the president admitted Sunday that peak traffic volumes could make the site crash.
While saying HealthCare.gov had improved, President Barack Obama’s adviser Jeffrey Zients also warned that peak traffic volumes during the coming weeks could overwhelm it as consumers scramble to sign up before a December 23 deadline for coverage that begins January 1.
Networks of volunteer organizations are expected to resume enrollment activities after a long U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend, many of them with backlogs of would-be applicants waiting for access.
Enroll America, the nonprofit group that serves as a flagship for private sector enrollment efforts under Obama’s landmark healthcare law, said it planned to launch a new ‘Coverage is Coming’ push, with more than 1,000 events over the next three weeks ranging from commemorations of World AIDS Day to community health summits and holiday toy drives, according to Enroll America spokesman Justin Nisly.
AIDS Alabama, a statewide non-profit organization that received a federal grant to help people enroll, had been relying largely on paper applications to sign people up until last week, when they noticed major improvement in the website, said Lauren Banks, the organization’s director of policy and advocacy.
One glitch the organization came across last week involved apparently incorrect information about tax subsidies, Banks said.
For example, she said, people who appeared to be eligible for subsidies given their income levels were told they did not qualify.
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