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October 17, 2013 at 12:33 PM
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Public exchange watchers in states with exchange programs run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are seeing a little enrollment activity in some cases and have no activity information at all in others.
HHS is running Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) exchange enrollment through the HealthCare.gov website in 36 states.
In South Dakota, for example, Avera Health Plans, Sanford Health Plan and DAKOTACARE have authorization to sell plans through the exchange system.
Avera has reported getting 21 exchange enrollments as of Thursday. Sanford Health reported two signups.
DAKOTACARE has had no sales yet, the Argus Leader reported.
Meanwhile, in Utah, Randal Serr, director of health care outreach and advocacy organization Take Care Utah, told members of that state’s Health System Reform Task Force that his group is unsure how many people have signed up for exchange coverage.
In South Dakota, Deb Muller of Avera said enrollments have met Avera’s expectations for the first two weeks of the exchange’s operation. She said she expected some technical problems with the new computer system.
Muller said people in her office have tried the online exchange, but have been unable to get all the way through the process.
“There are still some hangups, but we know it is working,” Muller said. “I don’t know the answer for why it works for some and it doesn’t work for others.”
Ruth Krystopolski, president of Sanford Health, said the two people who have signed up for the company’s coverage through the exchange appear to be eligible for 100 percent premium subsidies by the government. However, Sanford Health has no way to verify an applicant’s income and has raised that issue with federal officials, she said.
In Utah, Serr said HealthCare.gov officials seem to have improved system performance by giving consumers a way to compare plans without first creating user accounts.
