The second day of signup for health coverage on the new federal exchange was a lot like the first.
At one location in Dane County, there was heavy web traffic but less face-to-face contact. Elissa Sprecher works with Access Community Health Centers as a certified application counselor, meaning that she has training to help others enroll for health coverage on the new marketplace. For the second day in a row, Sprecher says the federal government's website had computer problems, meaning they weren't able to help people compare and shop for coverage online.
“[It’s] a little frustrating, but we do have to take into consideration there's a lot of people in United States trying to navigate this web site,” says Sprecher. “Maybe not everybody's applying for insurance, but they're curious like most of us [about] what it looks like for their state.”
People have until March 31 to sign up for plans sold on the exchange; those wanting coverage by January have to sign up by December 15.
Sprecher says many people have general questions about the marketplace and don't know what documents they need to qualify for subsidies. Counselors have prepared a checklist of what people interested in the marketplace will need – for instance, Social Security number and household income, along with information about existing health coverage.
