California was one of the first states to create its own version of a health market exchange, with a variety of plans, but that distinction did not shield IT from technical issues requiring much patience from online users while the system shut down a few times.
The Golden State exchange is offering 12 health insurers, according to Insurancenewsnet, including the state's largest: Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente.
Officials with Covered California initially reported that five million people tried to access the website, however Dana Howard, a spokesperson for the health exchange tried to correct that, and is quoted in the article:
"People are thinking 5 million hits is 5 million page visits. That's not what we're reporting."
Explaining the error, Howard stated that there was a difference between people clicking onto the site and those trying to use it, and the story mentions that there were 645,000 hits to the site and 514,000 unique visitors.
Over at HotAir this five million number is also reported as being "vastly overstated."
In other Obamacare reports, MercuryNews mentioned that the rollout of California's online health insurance exchange had problems. On the website it mentioned "sluggish access and spotty problems Tuesday," but also noted that those things "didn't stop state officials from labeling it 'a historic day' that will begin to allow millions of Californians to access quality health care for the first time."
Uninsured Americans, under the 2010 Affordable Care Act called Obamacare, who are eligible must carry some form of health insurance by Jan. 1, reports the Insurancenewsnet website, and in most states, enrollment continues through March 31. The article also points out an important detail:
"Those who fail to enroll on time face a federal tax penalty of $95."
