Only hundreds of people enrolled in the Illinois health insurance exchange in October, state officials said today, offering the first glimpse into an online marketplace that has been vexed by glitches.
Insurance carriers have told state officials that hundreds of consumers signed up in October, confirmed Jennifer Koehler, director of the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace. But she and Cristal Thomas, Illinois deputy governor, cautioned that it was just a guess since federal officials haven't yet provided enrollment figures.
“We do not know,” Ms. Thomas said. “If we have to guess we would guess probably in the hundreds.”
Before the launch, Illinois officials predicted that about 486,000 individuals and small business in Illinois would buy health insurance in 2014 on the exchange, a key part of the Affordable Care Act to tamp down rising health care costs.
The state officials and Michael Gelder, senior health policy adviser to Gov. Pat Quinn, briefed reporters today about the exchange at a fellowship in Chicago held by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
The news isn’t much better elsewhere around the country. Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Chuck Grassley of Iowa released figures today that indicated just a handful of people in Washington, D.C. had enrolled for plans from two carriers as of the end of October. Two other carriers had not enrolled anyone, they said.
"With data from D.C.'s four participating health plans in, there's been a whopping five people enrolled in the city's exchange," Mr. Hatch said, according to a statement. "That's right, five. Whether it's significant problems with the website, people being forced off the coverage they had or skyrocketing costs, these numbers are even more proof of what a disaster Obamacare is and why it should be delayed."
