Glitches persist at Colorado's health

Posted: 10/21/2013 05:27:42 PM MDT

Updated: 10/21/2013 05:40:08 PM MDT

Consumers, insurance brokers and navigators trained to ease health reforms are venting deep frustration with glitches in the Colorado exchange and Medicaid signups, reflecting national doubts over the new system.

A few individual insurance buyers said they landed policies and subsidies smoothly in the first three weeks of Obamacare reforms.

But others, including those responsible for walking the uninitiated through complex portals, said they are stuck with long response times, indecipherable error screens and intrusive forms.

As of last week, 226 people had signed up for policies at the exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, about one-tenth of what Maryland has reported.

Jesse Jacobs has had 'an overwhelmingly awful experience with the system,' he said, after creating an account and then not being let back in for weeks now. 'They had three years to get this up and running. I don't know what they spent the money on,' said Jacobs, a manager in a pest control business.

Jacobs sent screen shots of the error messages to the exchange, but was told his complaint ticket was closed and hasn't heard anything since. Colorado is one of 14 states that set up their own exchanges; the federal government's severe glitches with the 36 states whose sites it is managing are separate, if similar.

Insurance broker Joe Roth is still awaiting certification from the state for the ability to walk his clients through the insurance offerings on the exchange. His clients are getting letters from their existing insurance companies saying their policies will be cancelled and they need new coverage under Obamacare rules, but he can't log into exchange computers or otherwise help them.

'They say, 'Try in another 15 minutes.' Well, I've been trying for 20 days,' Roth said. The incompetence ' frightens people.'

It is impossible to tell how many have been dissuaded from signing up for either private health insurance on the exchange, or for the Medicaid expansion through the state.

Connect for Health said last week it was pleased with more than 18,000 Coloradans creating accounts. But only 226 people had signed up for policies. Exchange officials said they believe many will shop for a while before they sign up, but they need more than 100,000 customers by the end of 2014.

Maryland, with a similar population to Colorado, reports 34,000 people with accounts and 2,300 signed up for policies.

Colorado Medicaid officials, who are signing up lower-income residents under Obamacare's expanded income levels, said they are seeing six to nine times the usual volume of applications since Oct. 1.

Medicaid's PEAK system saw about 900 applications a day from Oct. 1 to Oct. 10, compared to 100 a day before, said Medicaid spokeswoman Rachel Reiter.

Many customers are frustrated they must first fill out a Medicaid application, even though they know they don't qualify and would rather go straight to exchange subsidies. State officials say it's a joint Medicaid-exchange application required by the federal government, but acknowledge it's an unwieldy 12 pages on paper. They want U.S. approval to streamline it.

The system is meant to give a Medicaid denial immediately so that customers can then buy a subsidized or full-price policy on the exchange. But only some are seeing that.

'Some of those are now hitting the two-week mark' waiting for a denial, and 'they are very frustrated,' said Mirna Ramirez-Castro, who oversees navigators for Servicios de la Raza and other community agencies in northwest Denver.

Even if a client gets a fast Medicaid answer, she said, Colorado's exchange is still not allowing clients to finish their signup on the web site. Instead, they are instructed to use operators at a call center. 'One of my guys was on hold for 35 minutes this morning without anyone picking up,' Ramirez-Castro said.

Denver Health said clients who arrive on a city bus are being told to come back two or three times for subsequent steps.

A few customers report success. Kaiser Permanente Colorado vice president Jandel Allen-Davis said the HMO has not seen complaints from consumers wanting Kaiser policies. In fact, they have said they found it easy to shop and compare prices, she said.

'I found it amazingly simple. On Oct. 4, I was registered and had picked a plan in approximately 10 to 15 minutes,' said Cy Davis. Past insurance applications were much more invasive and complex, he said. Davis said he found a plan for $100 less a month and $1,300 less in total out-of-pocket minimums than he pays now.

Michael Booth: 303-954-1686, mbooth@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mboothdp