DETROIT(AP) — Amid the problems and political finger-pointing since the launch of online health care exchanges, Adnan Hammad sees progress.
The community health director at the Dearborn-based nonprofit ACCESS said his staff has helped hundreds of people enroll in plans under the federal health care overhaul and educated thousands about the options. That’s despite technical problems that have plagued the site and frustrated consumers in Michigan and across the country since its Oct. 1 debut.
Glitches and delays persist, but they began easing in the second week of the marketplaces — envisioned as a 21st century portal to a health care law designed to provide insurance for people who can’t get coverage on the job. Technical problems with the overloaded website frustrated consumers for days.
The exchanges launched as the federal government partially shut down. Republican leaders had demanded that votes to reopen the government be tied to dismantling President Barack Obama’s health care law and cutting federal spending.
“I’m not a politician. … I’m just seeing it from the human side,” said Hammad, whose organization is one of four in Michigan sharing $2.5 million from the federal government to help people sign up for insurance. “It is just an exciting time for us to actually see all those families and children come to our doors and leaving happy … saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to have health insurance now.’”
Hammad said things have steadily improved and ACCESS has boosted the hours of the workers dubbed “navigators” to keep up with demand.
Michigan is among 36 states using the federal government’s site, HealthCare.gov, which the Obama administration said has had millions of unique visitors. The administration has declined to release enrollment statistics, saying that will be done monthly.
Michigan officials have no control over the function of the marketplace, but the state’s online premium estimator was used about 120,000 times between Oct. 1 and Thursday. A state website with information about the federally controlled insurance exchange had more than 14,000 visitors, according to Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services.
“I am hopeful that the process will become easier as improvements are made to the federal system,” department director Kevin Clinton said in a statement. “Our department will continue to provide help for Michigan residents who have questions about health insurance through our website and call center.”
For Hammad, progress is about more than overcoming technical issues. With each successful sign-up, he said, another person who lacked health insurance will be covered, and the risks of otherwise untreated diseases such as diabetes or cancer will decrease.
“I’m a believer that when human beings have access to health care … chronic diseases are dealt with earlier,” he said. “They will be happier human beings, happier individuals and will end up having healthier, better families, better communities and economies. I really tie health care to everything in life.”
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