The Ny State Health Department is being flooded with 40,000 calls a day about ObamaCare as President Trump looks to overhaul the program, the agency said Thursday.
Officials say they expect even more calls prior to the Jan. 31 enrollment deadline with this year and also have extended customer service hours to handle the demand.
“We've seen unprecedented volume,” said Donna Frescatore, executive director of the state Affordable Care Act exchange.
“We have answered over 1.7 million calls during open enrollment to date, and merely a week ago our customer support center averaged 40,000 calls daily. We expect the weekend prior to the final enrollment deadline to become extremely busy too.”
To satisfy the demand, the NY State Health Department Customer Service Center is extending its hours on Saturday and Sunday to between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Typically, the center is open from 9 a.m. to at least one p.m. Saturday and closed Sunday.
Enrollment information is available at http://www.nystateofhealth.ny.gov or by calling 1-855-355-5777 or by looking into making an appointment for in-person assistance.
So far, more than 3.5 million New Yorkers have enrolled through the state exchange. Many qualified for Medicaid, the public health insurance program for the needy.
A last year, there were 2,833,823 New Yorkers registered.
State health officials explain that a majority of New Yorkers will be eligible for a increased federal subsidies to lessen the price of policies.
People that do not enroll by Jan. 31 won't be able to throughout 2021, unless they have a “qualifying life event” such as a serious health emergency.
