La. Insurance Companies Stonewall On Enrollee Data

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The three companies offering health insurance plans to Louisianaresidents on the federally-run online health marketplace won't say how many people have been able to sign up.

The marketplace website has been plagued with computer problems.

Though the problems are not of their own making, representatives of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, the LouisianaHealth Cooperative and Vantage Health Plan wouldn't provide a state health panel Friday with detailed sign-up figures.

Initially, the company officials suggested to the LouisianaHealth Care Commission that they didn't have the figures.

Under questioning, they acknowledged they know how many people have enrolled and paid premiums to their companies — but they wouldn't share the information. They said enrollee figures were small and gave no explanation for why they wouldn't provide numbers.