(Memphis) After two months of not working, Healthcare.gov is up and running, according to President Barack Obama.
His administration set a November 30th deadline for the fixes, and it says the site is running smoothly.
Christ Community Health Services has helped a few hundred people through the Affordable Care Act application process, mostly on mail in paper applications, because of computer problems.
“This morning we’ve been able to get on the website and it seems to be working a little better,” said Amanda Chandler with Christ Community Health Services.
Chandler says the website it noticeably faster.
The Obama Administration says that’s because the fixes allow up to 50,000 to be on the website at a time without problems.
There’s also a new virtual waiting room for applications.
“We’ve been sent to the waiting room, but overall it seems to be working a little better, so we’re excited that the process may be turning around,” said Chandler.
But there is still room for error.
Economic researcher Jeff Wallace says he got stuck on a white screen while visiting the website Monday, but he claims most people are getting through, “This is a major chunk of the nation’s economy that the federal government is suddenly trying to manage in short order.”
Wallace says when people come to places like Christ Community Health Services to sign up they can get through on the front end by signing up on Healthcare.gov, but the insurance companies are still having a hard time on the back-end actually getting that information from the website.
“If they’re not getting the right information or they’re not getting it in a timely manner you as an individual can do everything correct and still not have insurance January first,” said Wallace.
Christ Community Health Services says some people have put off registering until the problems are worked out but they say you shouldn’t wait any longer, because if you are not registered for health insurance of any kind by December 23 you will be slapped with a fee.
