States running their own ObamaCare exchanges are lagging far behind their enrollment targets, even as scrutiny centers on the federally run HealthCare.gov.
The Obama administration had set a Monday deadline for people to sign up, though it ended up pushing it back amid concerns about the federal website.
HealthCare.gov continued to exhibit problems, with the site sending would-be applicants into a virtual waiting line whenever it was "overloaded".
But while Obama claims the federal site is steadily increasing enrollment, many states are struggling.
Perhaps the most notorious is Oregon. The state's insurance website failed spectacularly after the Oct. 1 launch. The state reportedly has signed up 11,000 for private plans after moving to a paper application system. But in another sign of the uncertainty, applicants began receiving robocalls warning them they should look elsewhere for coverage if they hadn't heard from the state by Monday.
All states have a long way to go to reach their target enrollment figures by March 31, the date by which people are supposed to have insurance to avoid a penalty.
As of Nov. 30, most state-run exchanges had reached less than 10 percent of that target.
In Massachusetts, the exchange had signed up only 1,138 people. That's a fraction of a percent of the target of 250,000 by the end of March.
Some states were doing better. Connecticut had hit 35 percent of its target; Rhode Island had hit 22 percent.
During his end-of-year press conference Obama said the pace of insurance sign-ups has picked up.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/23/states-lag-far-behind-on-obamacare-enrollment/
The Obama administration had set a Monday deadline for people to sign up, though it ended up pushing it back amid concerns about the federal website.
HealthCare.gov continued to exhibit problems, with the site sending would-be applicants into a virtual waiting line whenever it was "overloaded".
But while Obama claims the federal site is steadily increasing enrollment, many states are struggling.
Perhaps the most notorious is Oregon. The state's insurance website failed spectacularly after the Oct. 1 launch. The state reportedly has signed up 11,000 for private plans after moving to a paper application system. But in another sign of the uncertainty, applicants began receiving robocalls warning them they should look elsewhere for coverage if they hadn't heard from the state by Monday.
All states have a long way to go to reach their target enrollment figures by March 31, the date by which people are supposed to have insurance to avoid a penalty.
As of Nov. 30, most state-run exchanges had reached less than 10 percent of that target.
In Massachusetts, the exchange had signed up only 1,138 people. That's a fraction of a percent of the target of 250,000 by the end of March.
Some states were doing better. Connecticut had hit 35 percent of its target; Rhode Island had hit 22 percent.
During his end-of-year press conference Obama said the pace of insurance sign-ups has picked up.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/23/states-lag-far-behind-on-obamacare-enrollment/
