Governor Steve Beshear has announced a new open period for Kentuckians to enroll in kynect, the state-sponsored health care exchange, as well as new technical improvements to the site.
In a press conference today, Beshear touted the fact that Kentucky was hailed by President Obama as a leading national example of successful Affordable Care Act implementation.
During the first enrollment from October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014, more than 521,000 Kentuckians used kynect to sign up for health care coverage. The second round of open enrollment begins this Saturday.
“While the first enrollment made Kentucky the envy of the nation, we’re not satisfied," said Beshear. "We know we can do even better. So we’ve made numerous improvements in the kynect experiences. Changes that will make shopping for insurance easier and that will encourage more people to sign up.”
Those improvements include an enhanced website, increasing the number of call center agents from 185 to 400, expanding call center hours as well as opening a physical kynect storefront at Fayette Mall in Lexington. A new kynect mobile app for Apple and Android smartphones will also be available allowing users to access their kynect account, see details of their plan and submit photos of documents for verification.
Beshear also noted that the ACA has made significant positive impacts on the state’s economy noting that an additional 3,000 jobs have been created in core health care services and almost 8,000 jobs in administrative support services in the last year.
The new enrollment period runs from November 15 to February 15, 2015.