Obamacare Website Aims to Lure Back Frustrated Users
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ABC News(WASHINGTON) — The Obama administration is sufficiently confident about improvements to HealthCare.gov that they have formally begun summoning people back to the site to try again.
The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services on Tuesday began emailing 275,000 Americans who tried to create an account on the site shortly after Oct. 1 but failed.
We are “inviting them to come back in,” said Julie Bataille, CMS communications director, on a conference call with reporters. “We have addressed majority of issues associated with that account creation process…those are communications that begin today and continue of the week.”
Bataille said this email blast is the first of several planned “waves” of outreach to lure back frustrated customers. Asked if the agency is confident the website can handle the volume of traffic, Bataille said they are: “Their experience will be a positive one,” she said.
CMS made several hardware and software “enhancements” to the website over the weekend, crossing off “dozens of outstanding issues” from the punch list. Consumers can now more easily save and upload documentation, for example, and compare plans that would include a tax credit.
The administration is sticking by its promise that the site will be “working smoothly” for the “vast majority” of users by the end of this month.
As for the highly-anticipated October enrollment numbers, Bataille said they will be released later this week as promised, but would not specify a day.
The administration will define “enrollment” as “those individuals who have submitted an application and selected a plan,” she said. But the total will not be limited to those who have selected a plan and paid their first premium, which is how the insurance industry defines enrollment.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio