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New Mass. Health Connector Website Works, But Some Enrollees Have Problems
Updated November 16, 2014, 9:26 a.m.
State officials and the folks at the Massachusetts Health Connector call the first day of the new health insurance website a success.
“The website was stable and available throughout the entire day,” said Maydad Cohen, a special adviser to Gov. Deval Patrick on the website project. “Response times were averaging under half a second. Throughout the day, no complaints about an inability to get on, no slowness, no issues at all with our performance and usage of the site, which was fantastic.”
- 5,967 residents were able to put in their income information and figure out what kind of coverage assistance, if any, they could receive.
- 2,660 of those people qualified for free coverage through the state’s Medicaid program, MassHealth.
- 1,704 people chose a plan but have not yet paid.
- 60 people paid and are awaiting confirmation from their insurer.
Roughly 1,600 people did not complete their application. They may still be weighing their plan options, they may have run out of time, or they may have had trouble using the site. And 1,713 people dialed the Connector’s call center number seeking help with their application.
The Connector does not know how many people received error messages, got stuck, had to start over or were told they must fill out a paper application.
But unlike last year, the website is working.
The Connector highlights a Facebook comment from Dianne Anagnos, who says, “My enrollment went smoothly. I am a happy customer and the website was very user friendly.”
Some people were able to enroll with few, if any problems.
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But there were also more than a dozen complaints posted to Facebook, Twitter and other social networking programs. These people reported problems verifying their identity, their immigration status or their income. They had trouble enrolling family members. When they dialed the Connector’s call center for help, some people reported wait times of 50 minutes or more. Some were told they would have to fill out a paper application.
Linda Mederios says she was told she would have to fill out a paper application because the site could not verify her identity.
"Not working any better than the old website did," Medeiros wrote on Facebook, "trying to register & it says 'cannot verify' @ this time ... been ON HOLD w/phone center for the past 40 mins. UGH !!!!!!!!!"
Medeiros says she started her application at 8 a.m. Saturday. Sometime during the day, she says, a team of Connector staffers called and helped her through the website. By 4:45, she and her husband were enrolled in subsidized coverage.
The Connector will be issuing daily reports in an effort to be transparent about the website. It’s not clear how those reports will measure trouble people have using the site.
The Connector does not know how many people received error messages and had to start over. But here’s a sample of complaints posted to the Connector’s Facebook page:
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The Connector says the average wait time for those who were instructed to call the Connector’s help center was 20 minutes Saturday morning, but was eliminated because the Connector added more customer service reps Saturday afternoon.
So the new site works, and that by itself is a success, say some people who have struggled to enroll or help residents do so for the past year. But lots of people are asking why — when the state has spent $254 million between the old, failed site and this new one — they are still having so much trouble signing up for a health plan.
