We're working to improve HealthCare.gov
Published on February 13, 2014
We’re committed to updating you on our progress as we work to improve HealthCare.gov. Check back often to get the latest information on the status of our site.
And remember, there are several different ways you can apply for coverage.
Thursday, February 27: Ready to serve millions more
As we head into the final weeks of open enrollment, HealthCare.gov is working and ready to serve you. Hundreds of thousands of visitors are coming to the site every day to shop for coverage. And we continue to add new enhancements to streamline the application process.
Thursday, February 13: Upcoming system maintenance at Social Security
Our online application uses a Data Services Hub to “talk to” other data systems to verify information that you enter. One of these systems belongs to the Social Security Administration, which verifies Social Security Numbers and other related data. From Saturday February 15, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. until Tuesday, February 18, 2014 at 5:00 a.m. EST, the Social Security Administration will conduct required, regularly scheduled systems maintenance activities. During this period, you won’t be able to submit an application at HealthCare.gov and find out what you are eligible for. If you are trying to enroll by the February 15 deadline for coverage beginning March 1, you should try to submit your application before 3:00 p.m. on February 15, so the outage doesn’t affect you.
Thursday, January 16: HealthCare.gov moving forward
We’re pleased that HealthCare.gov has helped millions of Americans access health care, but our work is not over. And we’re keeping our eye on the ball to make sure that the website works well — and steadily improves — as we invite new consumers to sign up for affordable, quality health coverage in the months ahead.
Friday, December 27: Meeting the mark
HealthCare.gov is meeting the mark and helping Americans from across the country find secure, quality health insurance coverage at an affordable price. We’ve seen important progress and we are going to keep working to make sure the consumer experience continues to improve throughout the open enrollment period.
Tuesday, December 24: Completing enrollments for consumers seeking January 1 coverage
HealthCare.gov received a remarkable 2 million site visits and our call center received more than 250,000 calls on December 23rd. We’re working to complete enrollments for consumers seeking affordable coverage beginning January 1. If you tried to enroll before the deadline and had problems with the system, you should contact the Marketplace call center for individual assistance.
Monday, December 23: A record day for HealthCare.gov and consumers
The system handled a record number of consumers who completed their enrollments with a low overall error rate averaging less than 0.4 percent and quick response times averaging well less than a second despite the increased traffic.
Saturday, December 14: Missing 834s as percentage of enrollment now near zero
We’re working to make sure that every 834 form – past and present – is accurate, and that consumers are able to successfully enroll in the coverage of their choice.
Friday, December 6: Weekly metrics report
More than 3.7 million consumers visited HealthCare.gov this week to learn about their health insurance options, create an account, learn about financial help, compare options, and select a plan.
Monday, December 2: Improved window shopping
You can now see more detailed information about each Marketplace plan offered in your area before you apply. Compare plans, covered benefits, physician and hospital networks, and more. No login or application is required to access this new window shopping tool.
Sunday, December 1: Operational progress report
We’ve provided weekly reports until now and want to highlight our work as we begin December – detailing the measurable improvements we’ve made to HealthCare.gov and acknowledging that more work remains to be done.
Saturday, November 30: Weekend work continues
This weekend’s maintenance windows allowed additional hardware upgrades and software fixes as part of a planned set of improvements to improve speed and reduce errors.
Wednesday, November 27: Hundreds of improvements
We’ve increased capacity and made software fixes that will greatly enhance the ability of consumers to use HealthCare.gov to shop for and enroll in health plans that meet their needs.
Monday, November 25: Adding additional capacity
Over the weekend, we implemented software fixes focused on enhancing the user experience, improving enrollment, and streamlining the workflow for agents, brokers and call center representatives. Additionally, we added storage capacity in the CMS Data center. This infrastructure improvement will enable increased processing power as more users move through the system.
Friday, November 22: Progress on capacity
HealthCare.gov will work smoothly for the vast majority of users by the end of November. We’re making progress: Average response time is now under 1 second, the error rate is less than 1%, and we’re making upgrades to double capacity so we can support more simultaneous users.
Thursday, November 21: Ongoing software fixes improve user experience
Last night, we added several dozen software fixes that address key functions of the website. These fixes improved user experience, the enrollment process, and the workflow for agents, brokers, and call center representatives.
Tuesday, November 19: Making the enrollment process easier
We’ve completed fixes for two-thirds of the high priority bugs that our team identified as being responsible for issues with 834 transactions and Direct Enrollment.
Monday, November 18: Progress over the weekend
Over the past few weeks, we’ve made measurable progress to improve HealthCare.gov, addressing both software glitches and hardware upgrades–-all of which will make a meaningful difference in the consumer experience.
Saturday, November 16: Weekly wrap up
As we continue to improve HealthCare.Gov, we want to provide you with a wrap up of the fixes we’ve made to the site over the last week and give you an update on open enrollment.
Friday, November 15: Making measurable progress
We’ve made measurable progress and the changes and improvements we’ve made over the last few weeks are having a positive impact on system performance. We’ve crossed more than 200 bug fixes off of our punch list and driven the error rate down below 1%.
Tuesday, November 12: Improving user experience
We’ve made substantive progress over the weekend on HealthCare.gov – implementing updates that will improve the user experience, improve system throughput, and streamline the process for agent/brokers and customer service representatives.
Saturday, November 9: A progress update
We’ve put major fixes in place over the last three weeks, improving site performance. Learn about the fixes, and read the stories of Americans who are successfully finishing their applications using HealthCare.gov.
Friday, November 8: How we’re measuring progress
Two of the metrics by which we are measuring progress are response time and error rate. Response time is how fast the system responds to user requests. Error rate is a measure of the frequency of system time outs or failures that prevent a user from advancing. We’ve made meaningful progress against both of these metrics.
Thursday, November 7: Best practices for improvements
We experienced new stresses on the system further downstream in the application revealing new capacity issues. Overnight, we added hardware to help alleviate that pressure. In addition, QSSI has established a new protocol that will help us make progress on our punch list and continuously improve the functionality and performance of HealthCare.gov.
Wednesday, November 6: An update on HealthCare.gov
Overnight, we added a new software release that included dozens of fixes focused on improving the user experience and agent and broker processes. Some of you may still be experiencing difficulties logging in or slowness in the Marketplace application. We are working to rapidly resolve those issues.
Monday, November 4: A weekend of work brings more progress
We’ve made more than a dozen important fixes to the HealthCare.gov application and enrollment system to improve performance and functionality. This includes fixes to correct information on 834 notices that insurance companies use to process enrollments.
Friday, November 1: An update on progress
We’ve made progress this week in crossing items off the punch list, fixing bugs, and improving site performance. HealthCare.gov works better today for users than it did last week and we will continue to measure our progress, hold teams accountable, and drive upgrades to improve the consumer experience.
Thursday, October 31: More information on the tech surge
We’ve added key personnel from the government and private sector, including expert engineers and technology managers from Google, Oracle, and Red Hat.
Tuesday, October 29: Improving the account registration process
We’ve made significant progress since October 1 to deliver a much smoother account registration process for consumers. Several new fixes have substantially reduced the error rate and increased our capacity.
Monday, October 28: Continued improvements to HealthCare.gov
Working over the weekend with new management in place, the tech team made some fixes to address performance and functionality. We’re diagnosing problems and making quick decisions with developers to resolve issues in real time.
Saturday, October 26: What’s working in the Marketplace
Every day, we’re using the Data Services Hub – a secure and efficient tool – to help you and your family get affordable, quality health care. Yesterday, we announced a clear path forward so that by the end of November, HealthCare.gov will work smoothly for the vast majority of consumers.
Wednesday, October 23: See how we’re making HealthCare.gov better
Over the last few days, we’ve shared updates with you on our tech surge and the steps we’re taking to ensure that HealthCare.gov gets better. Moving forward we will provide updates through regular blogs and press telebriefings.
Tuesday, October 22: A technology surge for HealthCare.gov
We’ve brought in experts from across the federal government and private sector to improve the consumer experience on HealthCare.gov.
Sunday, October 20: Making improvements to HealthCare.gov
The initial consumer experience of HealthCare.gov has not lived up to the expectations of the American people. We’re working around the clock and committed to doing better.
