Federal officials are racing against the clock in order to complete testing and bug fixes for new shopping tools atHealthCare.gov in advance of the third open enrollment period which opens on Nov. 1, according to The New York Times.
As part of the upgrade to the site, the federal government is updating HealthCare.gov’s window shopping feature ahead of the upcoming open enrollment period. The updates are expected to:
- Allow consumers to compare whether different exchange plans cover specific physicians, hospitals or medications;
- help the website to provide more accurate estimates of plans’ total annual out-of-pocket costs, including premiums, deductibles and copayments; and
- bolster smartphone and tablet usability.
However, things don’t appear to be going smoothly as planned upgrades to the site which were expected to debut during the Affordable Care Act’s upcoming open enrollment being potentially delayed because of testing setbacks, according to The Associated Press.
According to CMS Communications Director Lori Lodes, the Obama administration is “working closely with the insurance companies to make sure their data is accurate and validated and to identify and fix any potential issues” with the upgrades, the Sacramento Bee reported. And America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) spokesperson Clare Krusing stated that while the updated tools will provide “important data for consumers to have,” she asserted that it is “even more important that the tools are working as intended. Individuals should confirm with their health plan that their specific providers and medications are including before picking their coverage during open enrollment.”
The website testing is being done in collaboration with insurers, and parties on both sides are casting blame for the unresolved issues reports The Times. Insurers claim government officials did not adequately test the tools, while the feds say only about half of insurers submitted requested data on their providers and drugs in the requested format by Oct. 1.
HealthCare.gov has also updated its privacy protections, including a new privacy manager that allows consumers to opt-out of third party tools that the site uses to collect data, according Kevin Counihan, CEO of the federal marketplace. “If you choose to opt-out, you’ll still have access to everything on the site, but we won’t use information from your visit to analyze the site’s technical performance or use digital advertising to remind you about helpful information like deadlines,” Counihan wrote. “The Internet is constantly changing, and we have an obligation to keep evolving alongside it. We’ll keep re-evaluating our own privacy notice, the tools we use and how they intersect with the evolving landscape of privacy on the Web. We are committed to protecting the information you entrust with us at HealthCare.gov.”
Date: October 22, 2015