Deadline looms, exchange traffic rises

Covered California’s website and call centers are seeing a spike in traffic today as Californians rush to complete applications for coverage with fewer than 12 hours left before the 11:59 p.m. deadline.

Anne Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the exchange, said in an email that the site is holding up under the demand.

“People are getting through the enrollment process with few problems,” Gonzales said.

Call centers, she said, have 450 representatives working the phones and, as of this morning, about 400 people were on hold.

“Peak on-hold time is about 32 minutes,” Gonzales said.

Though the deadline to sign up for an Obamacare policy through Covered California was March 31, the exchange introduced a last-minute change at 5 p.m. that day when the sheer volume of last-minute service requests overwhelmed coveredca.com and, at times, call center phone lines.

The exchange had already announced that anyone who was able to start an application by the deadline would have until April 15 to complete it. And, because some were unable to get through on March 31 due to technical problems, the exchange said it would allow Californians to contact certain certified representatives to file and complete an application by the end of the day today.

On April 3, the exchange reported that more than 1.2 million Californians had picked exchange policies through March 31, but another 500,000 applications were on file and could be completed in the first two weeks of April.

The exchange has not said how many of those additional applications have now been completed, or how many additional applications were made by those pleading their cases to enrollment officials like trained counselors and insurance agents.

Gonzales said an updated total will be released to the public on Thursday.