Having problems finding someone to help you with you Covered California enrollment? You’re not alone. The second week into open enrollment shows that Covered California is struggling to get bodies trained and certified to help enroll Californians in the new health plans. After hoping to have an army of In-Person Assisters to help Californians, there were less than 300 Certified Enrollment Counselors (CEC) according to figures released by Covered California.
In-Person Assistance Program has slow start
There has been strong interest and demand from health insurance agents that want to become certified to sell the new health plans. Even with the late start to training and the agent agreement being released, over 1,200 agents had been certified. However, there are still significant challenges for agents and CECs as the Covered California website has been finicky with different web browsers. In an October 15 press release Covered California provided the following information on their In-Person Assistance Program.
| Enrollment Assistance Program | Certified Oct. 1 – 12 | Certification in Progress |
| Certified Enrollment Counselors | 279 | 3,824 |
| Certified Insurance Agents** | 1,295 | 3,382 |
| County Eligibility Workers | 5,287 | 5,421 |
| **17,768 insurance agents have registered for certification to sell Covered California health insurance plans. | ||
Certification is not a snap
The steps necessary to become a CEC are not for the easily discouraged. Between hours of on-line training, tests, finger printing and back ground checks, it might just be too overwhelming for many people. We are asking these folks to make a significant time investment not only for training, but the time to enroll people as well. The estimate was somewhere in the range of several thousand CEC’s throughout California to help the estimated 2.5 million people with out insurance sign up during open enrollment.
Vital role to vulnerable communities
In-person assistance is absolutely critical for many populations in California. Even if someone in the household is computer savvy, there are still many questions involving what qualifies as income, immigration status, not mention an educated discussion over deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, Health Savings Accounts and maximum out-of-pocket amounts.
On-line assistance spotty
The hiccups on the web site have prevented numerous people from enrolling or delegating an agent to help them. Not all the issues are related to either the CalHEERS enrollment web portal or web browser compatibility. There has been substantial confusion on the part of the Covered California help desk staff on the actual process sending a delegation request to either a CEC or agent. For giggles, you can check out the barriers agents are experiencing online to help people Covered California Oracle Access Manager Operation Error.
Less talk and more hot computers
From the outreach and educational link on Covered California there seems to be no shortage of tables of information at different community events. What are lacking are events where individuals can actually walk up, sit down and start the enrollment process. It is my hope that some of the enrollment entities will step up to the plate and organize day long events where people can drop in and enroll in a Covered California health plan. Of course, this would necessitate Covered California and their partners to diverge from the current strategy involving community CECs and agents just floating through the community.