Cover Oregon rollout flawed

It was window shopping only for Oregonians looking to buy health insurance on the state’s online exchange that launched Tuesday.

Glitches in the Cover Oregon portal that determines individuals’ eligibility for tax credits and certain insurance policies prevented it from doing just that.

Rocky King, Cover Oregon’s executive director, explained in a news conference Tuesday morning that it will be at least a week before insurance agents can actually enroll people in plans through Cover Oregon. Until then, they’re limited to entering clients’ information and establishing profiles. Members of the public currently cannot enroll in a plan on their own.

Health insurance plans purchased through Cover Oregon do not take effect until Jan. 1, and people have until Dec. 15 to enroll in a plan.

For the Bend insurance agents authorized to help people shop for plans on Cover Oregon, Tuesday’s news meant a lot of reshuffling appointments until they can learn peoples’ eligibility and enroll them in plans.

It’s crucial that people know what tax credits they’re eligible for, said Bill McCadden, a senior agent with John Altman Insurance in Bend. The premiums on the exchange will still be expensive, so the tax credits will help in deciding on a policy, he said.

“I’m telling people, ‘Let’s just hold off for a few days,’” McCadden said. “It’s a little frustrating.”

While anyone can access the Cover Oregon website and attempt to browse plans, only authorized insurance agents or “community partners” — groups authorized to assist people in purchasing from the exchange — can establish accounts and pre-order health insurance for the first few weeks the exchange is up and running. King said that’s so those well-versed in health care eligibility can point out what does and does not work before the system opens to individuals.

The glitches are a “technology challenge” affecting the portal that connects insurers, agents and the state and federal governments, King said. While he maintained that those problems are not affecting the public access, countless members of the public reported issues accessing sections of the website Tuesday.

Kristine Akenson, with High Desert Insurance in Bend, showed up for work early on Tuesday to tool around on the agent’s portal within the exchange. She couldn’t do that, though, as she didn’t receive her login information until 1 p.m. Even when she tried to access the public website in the morning, she said she wasn’t able to pull up the various plans to learn about them.

“We knew they were going to be very limited going in, but it was more limited than I expected,” she said.

Nonetheless, Akenson said her clients have been understanding about the delay. She’s keeping her chin up, too.

“I’m trying to stay positive,” she said. “It’s a lot of stuff when you really think about it. Building from the ground up, it’s a lot of work.”

King emphasized that he regrets the delay and is working to make sure those who need coverage get it.

“Do I shed tears? I do,” he said, “because when you get a call from somebody that needs coverage, and you’ve got to say, ‘You’ve got to wait another week,’ that hurts.”

While several agents said they have not been establishing Cover Oregon accounts for people in anticipation of enrollment, Laurel Case, outreach specialist with Healthy Beginnings in Bend, said her organization, an authorized community partner with Cover Oregon, has been establishing accounts for its clients. Like the agents in town, Case said, Healthy Beginnings was flooded with calls Tuesday from people wondering how to purchase insurance.

The glitches seen in Cover Oregon coincided with a flurry of such rocky launches across the country Tuesday as a pivotal component of the Affordable Care Act — state-based health insurance exchanges — was rolled out to the public. Those covered under large employer plans or Medicare aren’t affected by the exchanges.

Cover Oregon is designed to allow individuals to enter their personal information into the Cover Oregon Web portal, which then determines their eligibility for tax credits or forms of insurance such as Medicaid, a coordinated care organization plan or Healthy Kids.

“We want to make sure that those who we say, ‘They’re eligible for Medicaid,’ they are,” King said. “It’s about figuring out the right pathway for which to choose a plan.”

Cover Oregon leaders convened in Durham near Portland on Tuesday for what they dubbed a launch celebration. At the conference, they assured reporters they were working out the flaws in the system and painted the launch as merely a starting point.

In order to be covered by Jan. 1, enrollees must have purchased their plans by Dec. 15. The first open enrollment period runs from Oct. 1 to March 31. Consumers who purchase their insurance at the end of March would begin coverage on May 1, Amy Fauver, Cover Oregon’s chief communications officer, explained at the news conference.

Fauver said that until Cover Oregon’s website issues are worked out, paper applications — which are available in Spanish — might be the best route. Local agents, however, said they weren’t using them. The typical turnaround time on a paper application is 45 days, Akenson said.

While for some, Cover Oregon’s opening day marked a rush to get signed up for insurance, Case emphasized that people would be fine waiting until the end of October or into November to do so.

“There’s no great rush,” she said. “There’s still plenty of time.”