HealthCare.gov remains under construction

The first open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act is now wrapped up, but while the federal insurance website looks to be up and running, contractors continue to work on it in the background, according to Politico.

HealthCare.gov's back end is receiving reconstruction in the form of technical repairs, such as to fix accounting problems and premium payment issues. According to Politico, key aspects of the exchange still aren't fully operational, and federal officers remain unable to determine how many people who enrolled in coverage have actually paid their premiums. This is a critical statistic, as paying the first month's premium is the final step to sign up for health coverage. In addition, officials are still in the dark about how many enrollment attempts were never finished. 

According to The Washington Post, at least officials don't have to go back to the drawing board for HealthCare.gov as they do for some of the state-run exchanges. Maryland is one of the states that received widespread media attention because of the failure of its exchange. Federal and state audits of those state exchanges that experienced technical issues are expected to occur.