Washington state health exchange goes back online
Washington state’s health insurance exchange is back up again after officials took it offline over the weekend to address a tax credit calculation glitch.
The quality control team for Washington Healthplanfinder found that the system was not using accurate 2015 tax credit information from the state Department of Social and Health Services. In a release, exchange Chief Executive Richard Onizuka said engineers worked all day Saturday and into the night to fix and test the problem. The system was rereleased at 8 a.m. Sunday.
“Consumers expect to be selecting and purchasing health coverage with the correct information,” Onizuka said. “While we recognize that this Saturday was an inconvenience, being able to provide correct information to our customers is paramount to what we do.”
Before the online exchange went down, about 2,000 customers were on the site each hour. Fewer than 150 had scheduled payment for a plan based on false information. “We will be contacting each person to provide them with their accurate tax credit amount,” Onizuka said.
State officials hope as many as 85,000 people in Washington sign up for health insurance during the open enrollment period, which ends Feb. 15. About 145,000 people bought insurance during the first open enrollment period last year, and officials hope those customers renew this cycle.
