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Numbers weak on those signing up for Obamacare

Posted at 8:16 PM, Dec 12, 2013
and last updated 2013-12-12 22:16:59-05

SALT LAKE CITY -- Here's the good news -- healthcare.gov is working a lot better for Utahns seeking health insurance.

The bad news is as of Nov. 30 only 1,865 Utahns had signed up for new policies on the federal exchange.

That number would make up Weber High School -- the biggest high school in Weber County. But about 400,000 Utahns need health insurance, which is more than the entire population of Weber County.

Still, insurance executives see a silver lining to the web cloud.

"We're actually feeling pretty encouraged by the capability once those interfaces are up to strength," said Bob White, Chief Information Operator for Select Health.

White and other insurance executives testified in front of the Health Care Task Force at the state capitol.

Shaun Greene, Chief Operating Officer for Arches Health, said that they were only getting "tens of people" through at a time in November, but now they can see "tens of tens, or hundreds."

Greene said the volume isn't as high as they'd like, but they think they can now start shepherding people through the system successfully.

Greene pointed to what he sees as the biggest imminent problem in the system -- a number of people may think they signed up successfully when enrollment began, but their information may have been lost in the initial web turmoil of healthcare.gov.

The suggestion for those who have signed up is to look for notification from your new provider in the mail. If you haven't gotten anything, then call the company rather than assuming everything's OK.

Dec. 23 is the deadline for signing up on the exchange for those wishing to be covered on Jan. 1.