ACA exchanges experience glitchy opening day, employees make six big enrollment errors, and Disney promotes part-timers: 3 things you need to know in employee benefits

ACA supporters, opponents spin results of exchanges’ opening day

Turns out, Covered California director Peter Lee was more than slightly off when he told the Washington Post that he expected “very few people” to enroll via the exchange marketplace this month. Tuesday, Oct. 1, marked the official opening of the exchanges nationwide, and according to the White House, more than 1 million people visited healthcare.gov before 7 a.m.; the site ultimately crashed altogether after some 2.8 million Americans surged the site Tuesday morning, NBC News reports. Similar technical difficulties plagued state-run exchanges, news outlets confirm.

The exchange opening coincided with the first federal government shutdown in nearly two decades, with the Affordable Care Act at the center of the partisan battle leading to a breakdown in congressional budget negotiations. Thus, both sides of the political aisle were quick to frame Tuesday’s technical problems.

The glitches “reveal how totally unprepared the government is for this launch even with three and a half years to prepare,” according to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

However, President Obama countered in an address from the White House that “a couple of weeks ago, Apple rolled out a new operating system, and within a few days they found a glitch and fixed it. I don’t remember anybody suggesting Apple should stop selling iPhones or iPads -- or threatening to shut down the company if they didn’t.”

Survey reveals top benefits enrollment mistakes by employees

A survey released this week from Colonial Life lists the top mistakes employees make when enrolling in benefits. Just in time for open enrollment, maybe you can help your populations avoid these pitfalls:

• Not reading the benefits information before the enrollment.
• Not knowing what benefits they currently have and what they cost.
• Forgetting to talk with their spouse about their family’s needs before the enrollment.
• Assuming the cost of a new benefit is unaffordable without seeing any prices.
• Not attending the group informational meeting.
• Not taking time to understand the upcoming changes in their benefits plan.

This week’s hidden gem: Disney offers full-time status to part-time employees under ACA

News this week from Bloomberg reveals that there’s one more reason to call Disney World the happiest place on earth.

The news service reports Wednesday’s announcement from Walt Disney Co. that it will offer full-time employment status and benefits to its more than 400 part-time employees at Disney World theme park in Orlando, Fla. 

News reports largely have focused on the number of companies that plan to cut employee hours to escape the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to provide health benefits to people working more than 30 hours per week. However, Disney’s announcement aligns with a July analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research that shows just 0.6% percent of the American labor force worked between 26 and 29 hours per week in 2013, the website Think Progress reports. The same analysis finds that more than two-thirds of those workers are posting fewer than 30 hours per week by their own choosing.