Health
Healthcare.gov Opens for Insurance Plan Shoppers
(AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
Jayne O’Donnell, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON (USA Today)—The federal health insurance exchange went live Sunday night for window shopping — a couple days later than some expected — as government officials worked to refine both their technology and their message to one encouraging people to re-enroll to save money when they start buying plans Nov. 15.
The Department of Health and Human Services is trying to prevent a repeat of last year’s disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov, an experience that many newly insured consumers may want to avoid going through again. HHS principal deputy administrator Andy Slavitt said the window shopping “functionality has been ready for a while … (but) obviously we’ve been continuing to test it.”
The launch comes two days after the Supreme Court announced it would reconsider a lower court ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act’s system of subsidizing the insurance coverage it requires. Slavitt said Sunday that the administration isn’t worried.
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