State’s New Health Benefit Exchange Receives Thousands of Calls and Millions of Page Views on Launch Day
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Covered California™ officials are
thrilled with the strong consumer response today, the historic first day that
California consumers have been able to shop for, compare and enroll in
affordable health plans or apply for no-cost or low-cost Medi-Cal through the
state’s new health benefit marketplace.
Calls to Covered California Service Centers and visits to
Covered California Web pages from enthusiastic consumers were extremely high
throughout the day. Some 5 million page views were made to the Covered
California website by 3 p.m. The page views averaged 5,000 per minute and
peaked at 16,000 per minute.
Also by 3 p.m. Covered California had logged in some 17,000
phone calls to its Service Centers.
To ensure that consumers will have positive experiences
going forward, Covered California will take down the enrollment section of its
website from 9 p.m. Tuesday until early Wednesday. This will help optimize
performance for the millions of people expected to log in to use the enrollment
function in future. Other portions of the website will remain accessible.
Today is merely the starting line, not the finish line, for
those seeking health coverage through Covered California. Consumers will have
the ability to enroll by Dec. 15, 2013, in order to ensure coverage starting
Jan. 1, 2014, and after that they can still get insurance until open enrollment
concludes on March 31, 2014.
About Covered California
Covered California is the state’s marketplace for the
federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Covered California was
charged with creating a new health insurance marketplace in which individuals
and small businesses can get access to affordable health insurance plans. With
coverage starting in 2014, Covered California will help individuals determine
whether they are eligible for premium assistance that will be available on a
sliding-scale basis to reduce insurance costs or whether they are eligible for
low-cost or no-cost Medi-Cal. Consumers can then compare health insurance plans
and choose the plan that works best for their health needs and budget. Small
businesses will be able to purchase competitively priced health insurance plans
and offer their employees the ability to choose from an array of plans and may
qualify for federal tax credits.
Covered California is an independent part of the state
government whose job is to make the new market work for California’s consumers.
It is overseen by a five-member board appointed by the Governor and the
Legislature. For more information on Covered California, please visit
www.CoveredCA.com.
