Sebelius rallies the troops

Sebelius said the HHS exchanges’ HealthCare.gov enrollment system is seeing “more and more enrollments every day,” and that activity will continue to improve after Dec. 1.

She said HHS is “definitely on track to have a significantly different user commitment by the end of this month,” but she warned that there is no “magic turn-on switch.”

“We have added hardware, added software, and are working on the parts of the website that were confusing to people,” Sebelius said. 

Also during the call:

• Local officials appeared to be confused by recently announced exchange plan enrollment date changes. The Obama administration recently announced the enrollment deadline for coverage starting Jan. 1 is now Dec. 23. The old deadline was Dec. 15. Sebelius said HHS has worked with carriers to push enrollment back “as far as we could.” 
• Sebelius said HHS hopes to be able to break exchange enrollment down by age and zip code soon but cannot provide that information at this time.
• Sebelius said that the individual health insurance policies now being canceled provided very few consumer protections, and that the individual market sees insurance company turnover on a regular basis. 
• Sebelius noted more states seem to be open to taking PPACA Medicaid expansion funding. “We have seen recently seen that the governor of Pennsylvania (Tom Corbett), a Republican, wants to pursue Medicaid expansion,” Sebelius said. She added that about 30 governors have endorsed Medicaid expansion, and that 25 are moving forward in their state legislatures with Medicaid expansion measures.

See also:

• Congress starts using an exchange
• Health policy extension war rages on
• PPACA hearing plugs brokers