{"id":6616,"date":"2015-02-17T10:40:09","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T16:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=6616"},"modified":"2015-02-17T10:40:09","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T16:40:09","slug":"obamacare-sign-up-runs-smoothly-after-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/obamacare-sign-up-runs-smoothly-after-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"ObamaCare sign-up runs smoothly after changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Margaret Anderson<\/p>\n<p>After <a href=\"http:\/\/www.healthcare.gov\" target=\"_blank\">healthcare.gov\u2019s<\/a> rocky start in 2013, healthcare workers and officials made Sunday\u2019s enrollment deadline run more smoothly by extending the hours for free enrollment assistance at 26 locations across Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>There were 82 locations with extended hours across the state, up from no more than 10 locations last year, according to Brian Gorman, director of outreach and consumer education for <a href=\"https:\/\/getcoveredillinois.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">Get Covered Illinois<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe federal government acknowledges that [last year] was very problematic and anyone who attempted to use it could see that,\u201d said Charles Watkins, a regional outreach coordinator for Get Covered Illinois, \u201c[The difference has] been night and day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The open enrollment period through the Affordable Care Act\u2019s healthcare marketplace began Nov. 15 and ended Sunday. Missing the deadline means facing a fine of $325 per person or two percent of the household\u2019s annual income, depending on which is greater, according to healthcare.gov.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;[The difference has] been night and day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Charles Watkins, Get Covered Illinois<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Over 305,000 Illinois residents have enrolled in a healthcare plan through the Affordable Care Act, representing a slightly more than 40 percent increase from last year\u2019s enrollment numbers, Gorman said. That number could rise to 325,000 after the final weekend, Gorman added, but the final count is not yet available.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is human nature to wait until the last minute,\u201d Gorman said, \u201cStarting in the last week and a half, we\u2019ve seen a steady increase in traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To accommodate the increase in both phone calls and walk-ins, Get Covered Illinois kept six Chicago sites open until the last minute, 11 p.m. Sunday, to maximize the amount of time Chicagoans had to seek assistance for applying.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe have more volunteers from the Get Covered staff, a better grasp of questions they will have, and our layout is better. We\u2019re just learning from last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Teresa Garcia, University of Illinois &#8211; Chicago Hospital<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Changes were also made to the structure of sites to better accommodate the rush of last-minute enrollees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a better flow. Applicant-wise, we are getting a slow and steady pace,\u201d said Teresa Garcia, an in-person counselor at the University of Illinois \u2013 Chicago Hospital. \u201cLast year, you had 60 or 70 people waiting and there was a lot of frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have more volunteers from the Get Covered staff, a better grasp of questions they will have, and our layout is better,\u201d Garcia said, \u201cWe\u2019re just learning from last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the University of Illinois \u2013 Chicago Hospital, enrollees were first directed to a screener who determined if the person was eligible for Medicaid, for which enrollment is open year round. After making that distinction, enrollees waited for an available in-person counselor seated along the perimeter of the room. The hospital had Spanish, Chinese and Polish translators available.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6621\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6621\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/2.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6621 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/2-1024x650.jpg\" alt=\"UIC Enrollment - Translator\" width=\"474\" height=\"301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/2-1024x650.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/2-300x190.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/2.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6621\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Volunteer Tiancheng Li (center) translates from English to Mandarin for Guangming Zhai (right), while in-person counselor Joyce Lane (left) enrolls Zhai at the University of Illinois \u2013 Chicago hospital Sunday. (Margaret Anderson\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Some locations across the city did experience problems with the marketplace website. Guadalupe Quintana, an in-person counselor with Alivio Medical Center who enrolled applicants Saturday at the Chicago Lawn Library, said the website felt congested and kicked enrollees out of the system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe plan is to get as far as you can with clients, and then someone from marketplace will call them back within 24 hours,\u201d Quintana said. \u201cThere won\u2019t be any fines because at least they were attempting to log in. It\u2019s not the person\u2019s fault.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watkins said he felt the error, which happened in the verification stage and was run by a contracted company, was corrected in a positive way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were a couple of hiccups,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cThe workarounds developed very quickly and people were moved into coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6622\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6622\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6622 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/1-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"UIC Enrollment Session\" width=\"474\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/1-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/1.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6622\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karen Robinson listens to an in-person counselor while signing up for healthcare at the University of Illinois \u2013 Chicago hospital Sunday. (Margaret Anderson\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Karen Robinson, who signed up for a second time this year through the healthcare.gov marketplace with her husband Rick, experienced some technical difficulties while enrolling at the University of Illinois \u2013 Chicago Hospital but said she felt the experience was worthwhile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want insurance coverage so we won\u2019t have to pay exorbitant charges for healthcare \u2013 or the dreaded penalty,\u201d Karen Robinson said.<\/p>\n<p>To which Rick Robinson added, \u201cIt\u2019s just like Christmas. We always wait\u2026 last minute everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Chicago residents get help enrolling in healthcare at the University of Illinois \u2013 Chicago hospital Sunday. (Margaret Anderson\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Margaret Anderson After healthcare.gov\u2019s rocky start in 2013, healthcare workers and officials made Sunday\u2019s enrollment deadline run more smoothly by extending the hours for free enrollment assistance at 26 locations across Chicago. There were 82 locations with extended hours across the state, up from no more than 10 locations last year, according to Brian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":6619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29,30,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-health-and-science","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2015"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>ObamaCare sign-up runs smoothly after changes - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/obamacare-sign-up-runs-smoothly-after-changes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ObamaCare sign-up runs smoothly after changes - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Margaret Anderson After healthcare.gov\u2019s rocky start in 2013, healthcare workers and officials made Sunday\u2019s enrollment deadline run more smoothly by extending the hours for free enrollment assistance at 26 locations across Chicago. 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