Day 3 is no charm for new health insurance exchange [The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.]

Oct. 04--For Seth Maurer, the new health insurance exchange felt like college, when everyone went online at midnight to register for classes and the system would crash.

The 27-year-old owner of a landscaping business made several attempts to shop for health insurance on the exchange, which is a key part of the Affordable Care Act.

He encountered delays and failed attempts before he finally succeeded in creating an account. But before he could view health insurance plans and prices, he encountered a message informing him the system couldn't process his request.

"I understand a new site has glitches ... but the fact is I can't get what I want," said Maurer, who lives in Mechanicsburg.

On Thursday, the exchange continued to work poorly in Pennsylvania, with few people, if any, reaching the point where they could compare plans or enroll in one.

There were similar problems across the county, although some enrollment was reportedly taking place.

Beth Ann Bupp, 60, of Gardners, said she encountered a succession of glitches and eventually was kicked off the system after waiting for three hours. She said a call to the customer service line did no good.

"This is a poor system," she said.

Thursday was the third day for the federally-run exchange serving Pennsylvania and 35 other states that chose to allow the federal government to operate their exchanges.

The exchange is an online marketplace to enable people to shop for government-approved plans and also connect those who qualify with tax credits to help them afford the coverage. It's for people who don't have access to health benefits at work.

At the PA Mental Health Consumers' Association office in Harrisburg, no one had been able to fully access the site as of early Thursday afternoon, said Lynn Keltz, the executive director.

The association is one of the federally funded "navigator" organizations helping people enroll.

Federal officials continued to tout the high number of visitors to the site and also insisted that, while there are glitches, the site is working. But they didn't provide enrollment figures.

In an email, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Fabien Levy said, "In the last two days, 7 million Americans have visited HealthCare.gov to learn about their options. Experts are working around the clock and were able to expand system capacity somewhat overnight, cutting by one-third the volume of people waiting to apply. Work on the site continues today to meet the demand and excitement generated in just the first 48 hours of our open enrollment."

Aside from the technical malfunctions, Maurer, the landscaping company owner, found other reasons to be miffed at the Affordable Care Act.

Since college he's had an individual health plan that covers 90 percent of his medical costs for premiums that he considered affordable. But his insurer, Highmark, will no longer offer the plan because it's missing some essential benefits now required as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

When Maurer was unable to view plans on the exchange, he contacted Highmark, where he was given prices for Highmark plans sold on the exchange.

Maurer learned he'll have to pay about $2,000 more annually because of higher premiums and a higher deductible and co-pays for a plan that's similar to his old one.

Plans on the exchange have metallurgical designations: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. The designations refer to the percentage of medical costs they cover, with bronze plans covering 60 percent, silver plans 70 percent, gold plans 80 percent and platinum plans 90 percent.

A bronze plan, while having higher deductibles and co-pays, has the lowest premiums.

There is also a stripped-down plan available to people under 30.

Despite the unpleasant news regarding premiums, Maurer wasn't ready to give a thumbs-down to the Affordable Care Act. He said there are some things he likes about the exchange site, including the layout and information available.

He also likes the idea of being able to use one website to compare all available health insurance options. Further, he says he would like to provide health benefits for employees of his growing company and is hoping exchange options for small business can make that possible.

"I think it could work, but it has a lot of stuff that needs to be worked out," he said of the exchange.

For others, trying to use the exchange was an exercise in frustration, and one that in some cases didn't seem to be winning supporters for the Affordable Care Act.

One person who responded to a PennLive query about his exchange experience wrote, "I tried to log in yesterday, waited 15 minutes and never got to the log-in page. I tried again today, waited 15 minutes and then a 'site is not working' message came up -- what a joke."

But one woman said she is 62, recently lost her job and is paying $1,500 for COBRA health insurance benefits. She said giving up wasn't an option.

"It does not matter how long it takes. ... I will keep trying. I've been waiting for this for way too long to give up now. Remember, not having health insurance is not an option," wrote the woman, who said her husband and child have pre-existing medical conditions.

Meanwhile, Keltz of the PA Mental Health Consumers' Association wasn't terribly concerned about the inability to access the exchange.

Of the 30 people who had called or visited her organization for help in enrolling, all were in need of basic information, such as what personal information they would need to provide during enrollment. None was ready to enroll, and the association was able to provide much of the information they sought, Keltz said.

She's confident the exchange glitches will be solved.

"My advice to people who are [enrolling] on their own is to wait a week or two," she said.

At Hamilton Health Center in Harrisburg, CEO Jeannine Peterson said many people are calling about the exchange and available coverage. But most have basic questions such as "what does this mean to me?" and still need to identify and assemble the personal information needed to enroll.

The main pieces of required information are Social Security number and a W-2 form or pay stub to provide employment and income information. Peterson said Hamilton has delayed appointments to help people enroll until next week.

"We're making the best of it by doing the education and telling people, 'Don't panic. You have until Dec. 15 to get the coverage by January,' " she said.

Federal officials are also stressing there's no rush to enroll. People can enroll as late as Dec. 15 and still have coverage on Jan. 1, the first day the new coverage is available. And enrollment for 2014 coverage continues until March 31.

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