WASHINGTON - The administration of President Barack Obama issued a health law revision Thursday to help states that have had technical problems running their own enrollment websites.
Several Democratic-led states, including Oregon, Maryland, Massachusetts and Hawaii, are still trying to untangle website woes that have eclipsed those experienced earlier by the federal healthcare.gov site, which is now largely repaired.
Oregon Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, whose state is near the bottom on enrollments, announced the change after the federal Health and Human Services Department posted it on one of its websites without further elaboration.
The department said residents who were unable to sign up on state exchanges because of technical problems may still get federal tax credits if they bought private insurance outside of the online insurance exchanges.
To qualify, consumers must have made an effort to enroll on a state exchange, and the plan they purchased outside the government market must meet certain requirements of the law. Until now the administration has stressed that the only place to get taxpayer-subsidized insurance under the health law is through the exchanges.
The tax credits that subsidize coverage under the law can greatly reduce the cost of a policy.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 02/28/2014