Enroll Alaska to suspend enrollments until Healthcare.gov glitch is fixed

Open enrollment for health insurance begins Nov. 15. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
Open enrollment for health insurance begins Nov. 15. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)

Healthcare.gov, the federally run website for buying health insurance, is calculating subsidies incorrectly for Alaskans on the eve of open enrollment.

Health care broker Enroll Alaska says the window shopping tool on Healthcare.gov is broken.

“The subsidy’s actually being calculated on a lower plan than what it should be or what we think it should be,” says Aimee Crocker, Enroll Alaska’s operations manager.

Crocker says Enroll Alaska is working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but hasn’t been given a timeline for when the technical issue will be resolved.

Until it is, she says the firm is holding off on enrolling anyone eligible for a subsidy.

“We’ll still be able to have conversations with people about what their potential subsidy would be as well as plan designs and plan options, but we’re not going to be completing their individual enrollments until we have confirmation that that’s been corrected,” Crocker says.

Individuals not eligible for subsidies can complete enrollment.

During the last open enrollment period, which ended last spring, Crocker says Enroll Alaska signed up about 2,700 Alaskans for health insurance. Open enrollment is a set time window each year when people can purchase or change health insurance plans.

Crocker says the firm got more interest than anticipated during the restricted enrollment period and signed up as many as 50 people each month.

“There was a consistent interest in what people’s options were as far as if somebody was losing employer coverage, moving to Alaska, or people with COBRA,” she says.

Crocker says Enroll Alaska agents are booked this weekend through next week.

Open enrollment lasts through February 15.

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