Perhaps influenced by the steady stream of bad news, business owners who supply employee benefits to their workers have rarely visited the exchange websites, according to new polling data.
The survey, which was conducted by financial services firm The Small Business Authority, found that of 2,500 entrepreneur respondents, slightly more than 85 percent of them said that they hadn't dialed up the web address of a state or federal health care exchange just to peruse it or to price and compare plans. Furthermore, only 16 percent expect to visit one of these websites before the year concludes.
Barry Sloane, chairman, CEO and president of The Small Business Authority, indicated that there are a combination of factors driving many business owners away from these marketplaces. This includes negative publicity, not needing to visit the sites – as entrepreneurs were granted a reprieve from the mandate earlier this year – as well as Medicaid not being something business owners will apply for. Many private citizens have enrolled in Medicaid through the exchanges since the sign-up period began in October.
"We are not surprised by the low levels of our business clientele who have visited government-sponsored sites or the fact that so few intend to visit an exchange between now and the end of the year," said Sloane. "Previous surveys have shown that there is significant confusion over the changes in the market for health insurance and the current problems related to the online sites has clearly only made this worse."
On Nov. 4, Marilyn Tavenner, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told a senate panel that the problem-plagued website Healthcare.gov is getting better and better by the day, as IT workers are repairing the site so that it can handle heavy volume levels.
