The Obamacare Website Cannot Handle You Having a Baby Right Now, Ok?

As the AP reports, the site “lacks a way for consumers to quickly and easily update their coverage for the birth of a baby and other common life changes.” Not just having a baby: It’s the same problem if you need to change your profile for stuff like getting married, getting divorced, a death in the family, or a new job. Whoops.

With regular private insurance, parents just notify the health plan. Insurers will still cover new babies, the administration says, but parents will also have to contact the government at some point later on.

Right now the HealthCare.gov website can’t handle such updates.

Government officials and folks at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are fully aware of the problem and there was even some kind of circular (?) issued.

In questions and answers for insurers, the government said that the federal insurance marketplace will not be able to add a child until the system’s automated features become “available later.” It does not provide any clue as to when that might take place.

So, you know: If you just gave birth and need insurance for your kid, please be patient and stay on the line, your call is very important to us. You are three hundred thirteen millionth in line.

Image via Olesya Feketa/Shutterstock