by Alicia Freese vtdigger.org After taking Vermont Health Connect offline for roughly 15 hours, Shumlin administration officials announced Thursday that they have fixed one of the website’s persistent malfunctioning mechanisms.
Employees of companies that have elected to offer health insurance through the online market should no longer encounter errors when they attempt to select their plans, Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) officials said.
The Vermont Chamber of Commerce, which has the state’s largest navigator grant, reported that, up until last week, every employee application they had worked on had become stuck at this point.
‘Navigator accounts were filled with dozens and dozens of ‘pending’ applications with no solution for how to finalize them,’ the Chamber noted in a report to lawmakers Thursday.
Mark Larson. VTD/Josh Larkin
According to DVHA Commissioner Mark Larson, employees are among the now roughly 6,000 people who have selected a plan, but up until now, most of them were only able to do so by calling DVHA and having the department do it for them.
The department emailed navigators early Wednesday evening, alerting them that the site would be down from 8 p.m. Wednesday night until Thursday morning at 11:15 a.m., according to Emily Yahr, Vermont Health Connect’s public information officer.
The site is usually down for maintenance between midnight and 5 a.m. each night, Yahr said, but this particular repair required additional time. Vermont Health Connect also experienced a temporary outage around noon Thursday.
Officials said they have received positive feedback on the changes made Thursday, and they are keeping close watch for any problems that could arise.
Vermonters still cannot pay for their plans ‘ the payment piece of the site is undergoing testing. This component was supposed to be launched Oct. 1, along with the rest of the website; it was later delayed until Nov. 1, and has since been delayed indefinitely.
A news release announcing the improvement also notes that small businesses only have four days to decide whether they want to extend their insurance until March 31.
Department of Vermont Health Access Commissioner Mark Larson Thursday made the following statement about improvements to Vermont Health Connect that will affect Vermont small businesses and their employees.’
‘We recently installed an improvement to make Vermont Health Connect much easier to use for small businesses and their employees. Employees who were having trouble selecting health plans should now be able to do so without encountering errors. The fix was implemented overnight, and the initial feedback has been positive. We are closely monitoring the site to make any additional changes that may be necessary.’ Meanwhile, testing of the payment processing function continues and we will launch that functionality once we feel confident that it is ready for Vermonters to use.’
‘We also want to remind small businesses that this coming Monday, November 25, 2013, is the deadline for choosing whether to extend 2013 plans for up to three months or to instead elect one of the other options made available in October. All small businesses with current insurance plans have received notices regarding these choices. If a small employer does not choose any of the available options by the November 25th deadline, their business will be automatically enrolled in the Vermont Health Connect plan that most closely resembles their current coverage.’
‘The recent improvement to Vermont Health Connect is good news for small businesses and their employees. We encourage Vermont small businesses and their employees who were encountering errors to log back in to Vermont Health Connect. We appreciate Vermonters’ patience as we continue to make Vermont Health Connect better.’
‘Any questions regarding Vermont Health Connect, the available insurance plans, contingency options, or the November 25th deadline can be addressed to the small business customer support hotline at 1-855-499-9800 or Blue Cross Blue Shield at 1-800-255-4550 or MVP Health Care at 1-888-687-9872.’
VHC 11.21.2013