Covered California enrollment targets young people

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- It's day three of open enrollment in the Covered California health insurance exchange. There have been some glitches, but the good news is there's still plenty of time to apply.

Covered California: What you need to know

Not as many people tried to access the Covered California website on the first day of enrollment on Tuesday as was first reported. Officials first said it was 5 million hits. It turns out it was about 514,000.

St. Vincent Medical Center set up an area Thursday to answer questions about the new Affordable Care Act law. Some said the state website is running slow, so they are doing it the old-fashioned way: in person.

"We can actually start the application because we do have paper applications, so in addition to going on the website, there's a paper, we can call the call center as well. So there's options for people to begin the process," said Lydia Ramirez, St. Vincent Medical Center.

Dana Howard, a spokesperson for Covered California, talked about the computer issues Thursday during an interview with Adrienne Alpert for "Eyewitness Newsmakers."

"The system didn't crash. It was a matter that some pages were loading slowly for some, and other people were getting right on," said Howard.

At UCLA they are targeting young people. The California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) says young people are the group most likely not to sign up.

"I actually fall into the category of recently graduated, so I lost my health insurance. My parents don't have health insurance plans, so I don't have health insurance," said UCLA graduate Vincent Hennerty.

Hennerty says after learning more, he planned to sign up on Thursday.

"When students have been approached about this issue they are actually really curious and receptive," said CALPIRG representative Morgan Culbertson.

Covered California is planning to release figures for the first week of operations next Wednesday, but enrollment data are not expected to be available until mid-November.

Covered California: What you need to know

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