A group of 78 Democrats from the House of Representatives sent a letter Thursday to HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD, requesting the agency shorten the 12-hour shutdowns of the HealthCare.gov site planned during the ACA enrollment period, according to The Hill.
HHS announced last week it plans to shut down the website for maintenance for 12 hours nearly every Sunday of the enrollment period between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15, except for Sunday Dec. 10.
"The recent announcement by HHS regarding planned shut downs of HealthCare.gov during the 2018 Open Enrolment Period is incredibly concerning. These shut down periods will amount to a full three days in which Americans will not be able to enroll and access health coverage," the representatives wrote. "Furthermore, this does not take into account that HHS has already reduced the time that Americans will be able to enroll this year by 47 days (a 51 percent time reduction) as compared to the 2017 Open Enrollment Period."
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