Democrats demand answers from Trump administration after glitches hamper Obamacare sign-ups

Sign-ups for health insurance under open enrollment on HealthCare.gov are down this year compared to previous years, at least in some part because of widespread technical glitches, particularly on day one. Congressional Democrats are demanding that the officials in charge explain what's going on.

The chairs of House health committees and ranking members on Senate committees have written to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma looking for answers. "One estimate suggests that as many as 100,000 fewer people may have signed up for coverage on the first day of Open Enrollment due to technical issues," they write. "Additionally, we are seeking assurances that these errors have been resolved so that consumers do not continue to encounter problems through the rest of the Open Enrollment Period, scheduled to end on December 15."

They included a series of pointed questions they wanted answered by Dec. 2, 2019. They want to know if CMS investigated and fixed the issues that broke the site that first day, and if it was due to the volume of traffic. Every year, traffic and enrollments have surged in the last days, and if traffic was the problem and it hasn't been fixed, tens or even hundreds of thousands more people could be shut out. The lawmakers want to know how many people have been affected by the technical problems and what CMS is doing to help them and make sure everyone who wants to enroll is assisted. They also demand confirmation that the technical issues have been resolved.

The answers, or lack thereof, to these questions could help Congress push the administration for an extension of the open enrollment period, which has happened in the past. Granted, it was under the Obama administration, which actively wanted Obamacare to succeed. If the Trump administration refuses to answer and doesn't fix these problems, though, it's more political fodder against it in 2020—on one of the most salient issues of the 2018 and 2019 elections.

But for now, there are still three weeks to get signed up, and there are plenty of resources to help in doing the homework to do so. Knowing what resources are already out there will help you to figure it all out and help others. Get Covered America's open enrollment toolkit provides all the information you need. And, as always, Healthcare.gov is the place to get it done.