ObamaCare site upgraded ahead of open enrollment

The Obama administration is rolling out new features for HealthCare.gov ahead of the start of open enrollment sign-ups on Nov. 1. 

{mosads}The changes are designed to give people more information and make the sign-up process easier, now that the website has been cleaned up since its trouble-plagued first year. One set of features, letting people check which doctors and drugs are covered by a plan, is delayed, however. 

“We got through system stability, the system’s doing well, we’re now into this more personalization and customization,” Kevin Counihan, the administration’s CEO in charge of the health law marketplace, said in a briefing with reporters on Friday. 

For example, there are changes to let people know how much financial help they qualify for right after they finish their application. 

High out-of-pocket costs have been a growing criticism of the plans under the health law, and Hillary Clinton has proposed a new tax credit to help people with those costs. 

But there are also steps under the existing law that can help people.

The updated website will now put more of an emphasis on picking a Silver-level health plan. Only enrollees in Silver Plans are eligible for financial help that, in addition to the law’s better-known premium subsidies, assists with out-of-pocket costs. A study from Avalere Health in August found that more than 2 million people are missing out on that financial help simply because they picked a plan that did not qualify. 

There is also a new out-of-pocket cost calculator that shows people what costs they will have in addition to premiums, like the deductible they have to pay before insurance kicks in. 

There are also new pop-up reminders to make sure people have submitted all of the documentation, like a Social Security number or immigration information, that they need in order to be verified. More than 400,000 people lost coverage in the past year because of problems verifying their immigration status.

The delayed features are part of a new “window shopping” option that lets people check which doctors and drugs are covered by an insurance plan. Previously, that information was only available on a third-party site. 

There have been problems getting the data, provided by health insurers, to display correctly, and officials said they are still working through the issues. Officials would not commit to a specific timeframe for getting the option working, but said it would be available “soon.”

“Talk about lessons learned, right?” Counihan said. “One of the key lessons learned is we don’t want to introduce anything that’s not fully working.”