HHS Teams with Monster, Peer.org and Higi to Assist in Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment

By Oliver VanDervoort
Contributing Writer

With the United States government dealing with the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been working with a number of top companies in order to make sure the bumps encountered last year do not happen again and people have a pleasurable user experience.

Starting in November, Americans were able to go on the www.healthcare.gov  website to select their insurance policies. Thus far the news has been encouraging with most of those seeking information and enrolling seeing improvements in issues like load times. When calling contact centers that deal with the ACA, most people have also seen shorter wait times.

Among the companies that the HHS is working with are monster.com, peers.org and higi.  HHS is leveraging their standing on the web to help drive more people to www.healthcare.gov. “These innovative companies help us to reach our consumers where they are with the information they need to sign up and reenroll in quality, affordable care through the Health Insurance Marketplace,” said HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell. “With these partnerships, we are using digital platforms to get Open Enrollment information in front of consumers who need it.”

The announcement that the department is working specifically with these companies comes on the heels of another announcement that HHS had entered into an agreement with PayNearMe. That announcement revealed that PayNearMe would be printing out special receipts at more than 7,800 7-Eleven stores that included a special announcement that tells people about the upcoming ACA enrollment deadline.

The department is working through these new places in order to get the word out to people it didn’t feel like it reached a year ago. The goal has always been to get as many people on the rolls as possible. By going through routes it hasn’t used before, the HHS hopes to see what works and what won’t for future enrollment periods.