Repairs Made to Covered Calif. Website Over the Weekend

Over the weekend, Covered California's website was taken offline for "regular maintenance" to address problems that consumers experienced during the first week of open enrollment, the Los Angeles Times reports (Terhune, Los Angeles Times, 10/7).

Details of Exchange Launch

The state health insurance exchange opened for enrollment at 8 a.m. on Oct. 1.

However, Covered California's home page took several minutes to load later in the day, and continued delays were reported throughout the enrollment process (California Healthline, 10/4).

The exchange was taken offline twice last week for upgrades to address:

• Repeated error messages; and
• General slowness.

Comments on Site Problems, Maintenance

Carl McDonald -- a health care analyst at Citigroup -- said that Covered California experienced fewer glitches than exchanges in other states. According to the Times, consumers using the exchange site during the first week were able to:

• Compare health plans anonymously; and
• Obtain prices quotes.

However, McDonald said the Covered California site "experienced the system crashing during the application process, and there were extensive delays loading Web pages."

Anne Gonzales -- an exchange spokesperson -- said that the pages now "are loading more easily and quickly."

She added, "We continue to make improvements and address issues as they arise" (Los Angeles Times, 10/7).

Physician Directory Unveiled

Meanwhile, a consolidated directory of doctors and hospitals affiliated with each exchange plan -- which officials had said would be available last week -- went online Monday afternoon.

Jerry Kominski -- director of UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research -- said that consumers interested in a Kaiser Permanente health plan were not affected by the directory delay. However, he said that the list "comes into play ... for the other insurers that are offering coverage through Covered California" (O'Neill, "KPCC News," KPCC, 10/7).