On today's episode of The Wheelhouse we're covering the hot political topics of the day, crunched together here in a quick-to-skim format, including how Access Health CT did on its unveiling: despite technical glitches, more enrollments came through than expected. This is The Wheelhouse Digest.
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ACCESS HEALTH CT SEES AMPLE ENROLLMENTS ON FIRST DAY
By late afternoon on Tuesday, 83 people had enrolled.
A push to get enrollments online at Access Health CT on its first day Tuesday backfired slightly when the site encountered difficulty launching and remaining available and responsive. However, 83 people successfully enrolled by 4:00 pm, Christine Stuart reported, and the site received over 123,000 visits. Glitches are being addressed, said Kevin Counihan, CEO of the heath insurance exchange.
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CONNECTICUT'S TOUCHY BUDGET AT RISK
Comptroller Lembo projected a small general fund surplus that could disappear quickly.
Surging demand for Medicaid-funded heath care for the poor is adding to the federal government shutdown, said State Comptroller Kevin Lembo on Tuesday, to put Connecticut's budget in a tough place, Keith Phaneuf reported. A decline in sales tax receipts could add to the trouble. If the federal shutdown lasts for a month or longer, we could see more serious troubles.
Read more at The Connecticut Mirror.
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CON EDISON ADMITS SOME FAULT IN METRO-NORTH POWER OUTAGE
The power company says its own work may have led to an electricity disruption.
Metro-North is powered by a high-voltage feeder cable housed in an oil-filled pipe, which failed last week. To maintain the electric line, the oil is frozen. That process somehow went wrong in Con Edison's hands, according to a preliminary review, as Andrea Bernstein reported. "Is this a way to run a railroad? Why were the commutes of tens of thousands of people dependent on this one feeder?" she asked on Where We Live.
