91ÊÓƵ

When Cover Oregon launched in October, Beaverton insurance agent Cindy Owen geared up to enroll her small business clients through the state-run online health care marketplace.

Owen, president of employee benefits firm Cascade Benefits Group, was hoping that Cover Oregon, created via federal legislation, would allow her to offer clients more affordable insurance options. Instead she encountered a website bogged down by glitches preventing anyone from enrolling.

“It’s a nightmare,” she said. “Really, for small businesses, we’ll be lucky to enroll people by January.”

The Cover Oregon website was designed to allow Oregon businesses with 50 or fewer employees to purchase health insurance starting Oct. 1 for coverage beginning Jan. 1. Technical problems have forced the health care exchange to push back the date when small businesses can enroll through the website, Cover Oregon spokeswoman Ariane Holm said. Because individuals and families haven’t been able to enroll online either, officials decided to focus on that part of the website first, she said.

“Small businesses are a huge priority for us, (but) we have to make some tough decisions,” Holm said. “We really need to get the individual-family portal up.”

Holm said she expects Cover Oregon to announce in the next month or so a date when small businesses can purchase insurance through its website.

The Cover Oregon website is meant to be a one-stop shop for health insurance that also determines eligibility for tax credits and subsidized coverage, such as the Oregon Health Plan, she said. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees that purchase insurance through the exchange could qualify for a tax credit that covers 50 percent of their premium costs.

It was a complex project that would normally take programmers four years to set up, Holm said, and Cover Oregon attempted to launch in half that time.

As programmers attempt to work out website kinks, Cover Oregon plans to hire more than 100 people to help manually process about 20,000 applications submitted by individuals and families seeking coverage, Holm said. Those who want coverage starting Jan. 1 have until Dec. 15 to submit an application, she said.

“We’re doing everything we can for people who need coverage on Jan. 1,” Holm said.

This option does not exist yet for small businesses hoping to purchase insurance for their employees, Holm said. For now, they can browse and compare plans and get premium quotes on the Cover Oregon website, she said.

Because of the delays, small businesses that hold open enrollment this fall or winter will not be able to use the health care marketplace, Owen said.

“We’re just going to have to proceed with the renewal as is,” she said. “There is nothing I can do for my January renewals.”

“I’d rather go direct to the carrier and just hold off,” Owen added. “It’s just so frustrating to me to be this long of a time and have these many problems. It certainly could have been better. We can’t do online enrollment at all.”

The delay for small businesses to purchase insurance through Cover Oregon comes at a bad time, said Iris Tilley, a Barran Liebman attorney who specializes in employment law and health care reform. Many employers hold open enrollment during the fall, she said.

“I think a lot of people are really frustrated,” Tilley said. “It’s open enrollment now, but you can’t enroll.”

Before Cover Oregon launched, some small businesses thought about dropping their coverage and encouraging employees to purchase their own insurance through the health care exchange instead, she said. Now employers are hesitant to do so, Tilley said.

“I haven’t heard from anybody that isn’t going to offer coverage next year,” she said. “I think (for) a lot of smaller companies that’s a risky move because it’s so difficult to get coverage on the individual side. Those employers … want to wait until there’s an easier way so they don’t spook employees.”

Debbie Kitchin, co-owner of Portland-based general contractor Interworks LLC, agreed to appear on the Cover Oregon website and brochures promoting the service. The insurance coverage her company purchases for its five employees renews in March, and she’s hopeful that it will be possible by then to purchase coverage through Cover Oregon.

“I look forward to just another thing to add more to the transparency of the market and to give small businesses more options,” she said.

Owen said it’s been rough telling small businesses they have to wait to use Cover Oregon.

“I’m not putting anybody in Cover Oregon right now,” she said. “It is just hugely disappointing. I had so many hopes. It’s just not great at all.”