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March 26, 2014 01:00 AM

CMS says it's ready for last-minute insurance signup surge

Darius Tahir
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    Kurt DelBene, the new coordinator for Healthcare.gov, said the website now can handle 100,000 concurrent visitors.

    CMS officials were eager, during a press call Wednesday, to present a message of readiness for prospective health insurance applicants rushing to sign up by the March 31 open enrollment deadline. Late Tuesday, HHS announced a sign-up extension for anyone who tries but fails to fully enroll by the deadline.

    “It's like Election Day—if you're in line before the polls close, you get to vote,” said Julie Bataille, director of CMS' office of communications. She explained that the new extension allows late applicants to attest that they had tried and failed to gain insurance through the exchanges, whether because of faulty technology or a host of other issues.

    CMS officials also reviewed consumer demand on the Healthcare.gov website and CMS call centers, as well as the agency's new-found capability to handle that demand. More than 1 million visitors went to the HealthCare.gov site on March 25 and on March 24 and 25, call center employees received more than 600,000 calls, according to statistics from the officials.

    With 14,000 English-language call-center employees, and 800 operators employed by the Spanish-language call center, agency officials boasted that their phone-support capabilities would be able to handle any call crush.

    “We continue to perform well in terms of error rates and response times,” said Kurt DelBene, the new coordinator for Healthcare.gov. The website now can handle 100,000 concurrent visitors, he stated. The previous peak number of visitors to the site was 83,000 on Dec. 23.

    Should the number of users overwhelm the site's capabilities, users will be placed in a virtual waiting room, where they can be informed by email that the website is ready to handle their request. Otherwise, they can wait to apply later—and attest on their application that technical problems prevented them from completing their application. Their coverage will be effective from the date their applications are completed.

    Officials did not say whether there would be penalties for falsely attesting to sign-up difficulties, but Bataille said that she expected the number of false attestations to be low. “People are generally truthful,” she said, when filling out federal forms.

    Darius Tahir is a Washington, D.C.-based freelancer.

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        • Midwest
        • Northeast
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      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Opinion
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      • From the Editor
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        • Nominate/Eligibility
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        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
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      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
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