Report: State Improved Covered California Enrollment As Process Moved Along

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— The California HealthCare Foundation took a close look at Covered California early on in its first enrollment period. The report points out some of the much publicized problems, but also gave the state's healthcare exchange some positive grades.

Michael Perry, one of the reports authors, said there were some knowledge gaps going into the process for enrollees seeking coverage through the president's Affordable Care Act.

"We found that they didn't know that when they enrolled in Covered California that they would be eligible for financial assistance, you know, a tax credit. That was something they didn't anticipate. A lot of the people who enrolled thought they could only enroll online," Perry said.

Some enrollees were surprised by how much documentation was required according to the report and of course there were long waits for many who called Covered California's call center.

Perry added that the state made improvements as the process moved along.

"It did really well compared to a lot of other states. I think the good news was they made improvements as they went along. They got better, they're going to continue to work on it, so I think it's encouraging for the future for California,"

Perry said those improvements will likely come into play for the next open-enrollment period for the state's health care exchange scheduled in November.