Covered California’s Enrollment Portal Taken Offline for Fixes

On Thursday, Covered California took the enrollment portion of the exchange website offline after software glitches began occurring Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reports (Terhune, Los Angeles Times, 2/20).

Background on Previous Website Problems

Last week, the exchange took the portal for its Small Business Health Options Program offline to fix problems with the site (California Healthline, 2/14).

Covered California also recently removed a consolidated directory of doctors and hospitals from the exchange website because some providers were falsely listed as accepting insurance plans that were not a part of their network (California Healthline, 2/10).

Details of New Website Problems

Last weekend, Covered California took down the enrollment system for scheduled maintenance and upgrades (Los Angeles Times, 2/20).

However, glitches in the enrollment software were found on Wednesday and continued through Thursday. Specifically, the website was ending users' sessions in the middle of the application process, according to KPCC's "KPCC News" ("KPCC News," KPCC, 2/20).

On Thursday, state officials took down the enrollment function and posted a temporary message notifying consumers that it was offline.

The enrollment section was supposed to be relaunched by 1 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, but it remained offline through that night, according to U-T San Diego.

In a statement, Covered California said its engineers are "working around the clock to resolve the issue and hope to restore the website functionality by Friday" (Sisson, U-T San Diego, 2/20).

Consumers still can shop for health plans and use the cost comparison calculator on the site (Los Angeles Times, 2/20).