Covered California head says agency adjusts to handle enrollment surge

You won't see this in the cable news, but folks in California have been enrolling at an increasingly rapid pace:

http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/12/06/40803/covered-california-head-says-agency-adjusts-to-han/

"Two days ago, we literally had - in one hour - 17,000 people call," says Peter V. Lee, Executive Director of Covered California. "And this is, in many ways, what you would call an embarrassment of enrollment riches."

Lee says Covered California is adding staff to help answer calls and to process about 25,000 paper applications that have come into the marketplace in recent weeks.

The marketplace has also redesigned its homepage. It now offers a button at the top that encourages applicants to seek enrollment assistance from lists of certified enrollment counselors and insurance agents searchable by zip code.

"We think with the licensed agents, certified counselors and a working website, we’re going to get everyone who wants to get coverage effective January one through the doors," says Lee.