“ TODAY THERE WERE MORE PROBLEMS WITH THE OBAMACARE WEBSITE . IT
Covered California
… NOT YET !
Dave Villar , President Pacific Coast Benefits LLC ,
Dave Villar is the President of Pacific Coast Benefits LLC . He was a founder and partner of PDI Insurance Services . Dave is an active member of the National Association of Health Underwriters and a member of the Anthem Blue Cross Agent Advisory Council . He has specialized in Employee Benefit Planning for businesses since 1987 . To find out more about Pacific Coast Benefits and upcoming Healthcare Reform Seminars , visit pacbenins . com or call ( 408 ) 847-1000 .
SEEMS WHEN YOU TYPE IN YOUR AGE , IT ’ S CONFUSING BECAUSE IT ’ S NOT CLEAR IF THEY WANT THE AGE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW , OR THE AGE YOU ’ LL BE WHEN YOU FINALLY LOG IN .” – Jay Leno
All kidding aside , Healthcare . gov and Coveredca . com are now up and running much better than they were during the dreaded initial launch . Truth be told , Covered California , the healthcare Market Place in our state , leads the nation in enrollment . As I write this article , enrollment in Covered California is in excess of 625,000 members since enrollment began on October 1st 2013 . The month of December saw the largest number of new enrollees with 400,000 signed up . To date nearly 65 % of the total enrollment in Covered California are eligible for federal subsidies , helping defray the high cost of health insurance inside the exchange .
Although California leads the nation in enrollment , the state is running below their self-imposed goal as we move closer to March 31st and the end of Open Enrollment . The first target was to enroll 611,000 prior to December 31st . In actuality , only 499,000 were enrolled or 112,000 below target . So far the trend in January has been lower enrollment with only 125,000 enrolled three weeks into the month . Exchange officials expect a surge of enrollment by March 31st , but to reach the goal of 1.3 million , more than 650,000 people will need to enroll before the deadline .
In order to have a chance at reaching their enrollment goals for 2014 , California will need to do a better job reaching the Latino Community , the largest group of uninsureds in the state . Covered California has stumbled by failing to adequately extend cover-
Covered California has stumbled by failing adequately to extend coverage to Latinos who account for 59 % of the state ’ s uninsured population .
age to Latinos who account for 59 % of the state ’ s uninsured population . Critics have pointed to technical issues , such as the Spanish-language version of the website not working until late November , and lack of a Spanish-language paper application until late December . These startup problems undoubtedly will be repaired for the 25 % of Latinos who are Spanish-language dominant and generally older . That alone won ’ t solve the problem . Some 58 % of California Latinos are bilingual and 17 % speak English-only , according to the health exchange ’ s 2012 marketing plan . The Exchange has increased spending on television and radio ads in English and Spanish , but mending the website and doing more advertising is no substitute for addressing the real issue , which is to connect with target communities in person . Covered California originally had plans to train 20,000 enrollment counselors by December 31st ; the actual number of trained counselors was only 3,000 .
As a group , Latinos are younger and healthier than the general population . California needs Latino enrollment to make the new insurance pool work as intended , with a mix of old and young , healthy and sick people .
Pacific Coast Benefits is a Local Certified Insurance Agency with Covered California . Our staff is ready to help you navigate Healthcare Reform . Please feel free to contact our office with any questions or for our assistance with your enrollment .
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