Technical problems with the new federal health insurance marketplace website, along with concerns that not enough young people will sign up on the new exchange, are causing many a furrowed brow among policy experts.
The health exchange — usually a federally-administrated site under the Affordable Care Act where users can find out what health policies would suit them best, based on the desired level of coverage and cost — has been jammed with millions of users, resulting in many applicants needing to fill out the forms multiple times, among other technological hiccups.
At the same time, many say the success of the Affordable Care Act hinges on how many young people sign up for the program.
Many young people already have health insurance because of the policy portion allowing them to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26.
If too few young people apply, it could create what experts call a “death spiral,” with insurance prices rising as only the sick and those with preexisting conditions sign up.
Insurance companies might then ratchet their prices to maintain the same profit levels.
“That is a critical question,” said Rick Murdock, executive director of the Michigan Association of Health Plans. “That will really drive the success of the exchange. I wish I knew the answer.”
Experts don’t know how many people have signed up on the exchange so far, but Murdock said he suspects it’s a “very modest number.”
Roughly 95 percent of MSU students already are insured, according to Kathi Braunlich, communications manager for the MSU Student Health Services.
Many students haven’t even heard of the exchange, including religious studies freshman Joe Dube. Learning more about the website isn’t likely to change his plans.
“I don’t think I would sign up,” Dube said.
He said he’s already insured under his parents’ plan, much like Alan Good, a junior, and Mary Johnson, a senior, two media information majors who also hadn’t heard of the exchange website.
Meanwhile, “local community centers, libraries and other navigator groups”: http://www.ala.org/tools/learning-about-aca
http://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/preparing-libraries-affordable-care-act.html are leading the charge to get residents informed about the policy.
The East Lansing Public Library is hosting a sign-up event on Thursday to offer technical help and contact information for insurance advice.
“There are people definitely who would be interested in finding out more,” said Jill Abood, head of programming and outreach services at the library. “Right now, the most difficult thing is being able to get on (the website).”
The federal marketplace’s website hiccups culminated in a national press conference, with President Barack Obama publicly acknowledging the problems.
“The website that’s supposed to make it easy to apply for and purchase the insurance is not working the way it should for everybody,” Obama said in the Rose Garden. “And there’s no sugarcoating it. The website has been too slow, people have been getting stuck during the application process. And I think it’s fair to say that nobody is more frustrated by that than I am.”
Obama assured listeners on Monday that the government is “working out the kinks in the system,” though he offered no insight into what exactly went wrong or what technicians are doing to address the problems.
In the meantime, the president said people can sign up by calling 1-800-318-2596, where a call center staff answers 24/7.
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