Now that the health marketplaces are open, workers who have employee benefits can, if they so choose, opt to buy coverage through the exchanges that have been established. It's unlikely, at this point, that they have had success in doing so, though, as the government's main site has been mired by glitches.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which commissioned several information technology experts to look into the website problems at healthcare.gov, the source of the issue that effectively shut down the online marketplace was linked to a software flaw. Combined with the amount of attention the exchanges have been given in the news, leading to a crush of web traffic, it created a perfect storm for technical problems to develop.
The paper reported that because of these glitches, of the tens of thousands of people that have started the application process, it's likely that no more than a few thousand have had success finishing.
The federal government, for its part, acknowledges that the exchange roll out got off to a bad start.
"We can do better and we are working around the clock to do so," said Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.
WSJ noted that some of the main problems people have pointed to in the application process is being identified by the system. Others haven't been able to access the website at all, getting a series of "error" messages.
Representatives for the insurance industry say that the glitches are only temporary.
"This is a marathon and not a sprint," said Karen Ignagni, head of the trade association America's health Insurance Plans. "We anticipate enrollments will continue to increase in the days and weeks ahead."
