Washington among top 3 states in Obamacare sign-ups
The numbers in this article are interesting. Either the majority of sign ups are in these three states or the latest figures reported by the media are inaccurate.
SEATTLE -- Washington state has signed more people up for health insurance than any state other than New York and California since open enrollment for health care reform began Oct. 1, according to new federal and state statistics released on Wednesday.
Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 7, more than 9,000 people selected a private health insurance plan through the marketplace in Washington state. Another 68,532 found out they were eligible for free insurance under Medicaid. And another 81,166 have completed applications for insurance, but have not finished the sign up process.
Oregon's exchange, known as Cover Oregon, is one of those programs struggling to sign up applicants. After a little more than a month, a small fraction of 8,800 paper applications had been processed and no one has been enrolled. Oregon was dead last among 48 states reporting the number of people whose applications had been checked to see whether they qualify for Medicaid or private insurance.
Cover Oregon has been plagued by technical problems preventing the website from accurately determining whether applicants are eligible for Medicaid. The organization has resorted to hiring 400 people to process applications by hand.
Numbers coming in from California show that much larger state has nearly twice as many people going through the process right now and a total of more than 35,000 completed applications for private insurance.
New York's numbers are not as complete, but that state is reporting more than 16,000 insurance sign-ups. The next most successful state marketplaces after Washington are in Kentucky and Connecticut.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20131113/NEWS03/711139859
