Gordon Forgey

The national healthcare website is fraught with so many problems that the rollout of the Affordable Care Act may forever be known as a classic government blunder.

However, early on, some states opted to provide their own health insurance marketplaces and websites.

Washington state is one of those.

Unlike the national website, Washington’s health care rollout has been successful. In fact, it is one of the most successful in the country.

Because of all the bad news nationally, many potential enrollees may be avoiding seeking information from the state’s site, expecting the same difficulties as people are having with the national site.

That is not a good idea.

The state site is working well. In the first month alone, nearly 500,000 individuals visited the site. Nearly 150,000 are in the process of enrolling in health coverage or have completed the process. More people have signed up in Washington than any state other than California and New York.

The state site can give Washington residents the information they need to make informed decisions about policies, prices and features without all the reported difficulties associated with the national website.

The site is http://www.wahealthplanfinder.org.

Real information about the various options, rates and subsidies has been hard to find, and national news coverage makes it seem impossible.

That is not the case here. The state’s health coverage site is accessible.

Gordon Forgey

Publisher