Enrollment for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act was set to launch Tuesday, October 1st, but computer glitches got in the way. Sign-ups came to a standstill in parts of the country, including Oregon.
After much anticipation and hype, launch day for Cover Oregon comes to a crashing halt because of a glitch in the system.
Asante Spokesperson Jeff Caulley said, “About 16 people were scheduled to come into one of our primary care offices to sit down for an hour time-slot and walk through the sign-up process. We cancelled all the appointments that we did have.”
Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center is just one of the community partners in Southern Oregon where certified assisters are trained to help people get signed up. But even these assisters aren’t able to access key components of the website as originally scheduled.
Caulley said, “We found out Cover Oregon website was not going to be fully functional. That there was about two-thirds, and the most important pieces to the website that weren’t satisfactory to them yet, so they are still working on those.”
On Tuesday, the President urged people to be patient. He said, “Apple rolled out a new operating system, and within days they found a glitch, so they fixed it.
I don’t remember anybody suggesting Apple should stop selling iPhones or iPads, or threatening to shut down the company if they didn’t.
Even though the launch didn’t go as scheduled the deadlines to act, and the fines for those who don’t, so far remain the same.
The deadline for those who don’t already have insurance and need to sign up is March 31, 2014, or face a fine. If you want coverage to start in January, the enrollment deadline is December 15, 2013.
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