Despite technical glitches, long wait times and multiple crasheswith the launch of the HealthCare.gov website last fall, manycredit unions are doing their best to help members navigate throughthe changes.

CoOportunity Health recently announced that it eclipsed the50,000 enrollment mark for individuals and groups in Nebraska andIowa, said Scott Sullivan, CEO of the Nebraska Credit Union League.The Nebraska league, along with the Iowa Credit Union League,signed on with the Des Moines, Iowa-based entity that providesinsurance options through broker Group Benefits Ltd., in Urbandale,Iowa.

“Even with all the national press surrounding the issues relatedto the Marketplace website we had virtually no complaints fromcredit unions or their members,” Sullivan said. “I think everyoneunderstood it was a government problem, not a credit union problem.Working together, CoOportunity and credit unions took a proactiveapproach and headed off a lot of the frustrations.”

CoOportunity Health is one of 24 co-ops approved nationwideoffering access to health insurance providers under the ACA,according to the leagues.

Sullivan said once the current enrollment period ends, theleagues will be working with the co-op to better determine the rolethe credit union partnership played in their enrollmentfigures.

Last week, the White House said the website created under thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act experienced an increasein traffic weeks before the March 31 enrollment deadline. For theuninsured that don't sign up by then, they will have to pay apenalty of $95 or 1% of their income, whichever is greater, throughtheir 2014 tax filing.

The $57 million Advantage Credit Union in Newton, Iowa, was oneof 46 credit unions in Iowa and Nebraska that signed on last summerwith CoOportunity Health.

“Our whole reason for being involved was to offer a means foreveryone to look at insurance options that they didn't havebefore,” said Corinne Coyle, president/CEO of Advantage CU. “Myconcern was there was going to be fraudulent companies out theretrying to convince people to come sign on. I want members to beable to come to us and be comfortable.”

While Coyle wouldn't provide figures on the number of memberswho signed on with CoOportunity Health, she did acknowledge thatglitches with the healthcare.gov site may have discouraged somefrom enrolling.

“Let's face it, it wasn't the prettiest launch when openenrollment began,” said Jim Niederhauser, vice president of memberservices at the Iowa league. “It was pretty disruptive and I thinkwould have lessened some of the momentum established.”

However, the league is committed to an opportunity for creditunions to assist their members with their health and well-beingchoices, Niederhauser said. CoOportunity Health has exceeded itsexpectations in terms of number of policies of sold, he added.

In a debut year of sweeping changes in national health insurancerequirements, there's going to be learning curves and discoveries,Niederhauser said. The true tests will come as the system growsmore stable.

“Credit unions are in the forefront of something new. Membersare navigating through unchartered territory. Looking down theroad, we're excited about what's ahead and how we can improve themodel,” he offered.

Read more: Credit Union Exchange Blueprint…

In early 2013, core data system and technology solutionsprovider EPL Inc. in Birmingham, Ala., launched the Credit UnionExchange Blueprint, a private exchange for credit unions andmembers that provides online access to insurance carriers and aresource for the new health care reform requirements. There arecurrently five charter credit unions that are actively using theCUEB and another 20 moving toward adoption, said Bruce Clapp, EPLchief marketing and sales officer.

“We did hear many stories of issues with those that tried toaccess the federal and state exchanges. However, CUEB is a privateexchange operated by insurance professionals built for creditunions and their members (and) offers a wider selection of healthplans and options to help protect families,” Clapp said.

While March 31 is the official end of this year's openenrollment season, there are a number of situations that can createa special enrollment period for an individual, including the lossof group coverage if a company decides to drop its health plan,Clapp explained. In July 2013, the White House said it would extendthe deadline for businesses with more than 50 employers to providehealth care coverage from 2014 to 2015.

The $244 million Peach State Federal Credit Union inLawrenceville, Ga., is a 25-year client and EPL owner.Through thecompany, the cooperative rolled out its Peach State InsuranceMarketplace on Jan. 1 for members and non-members offeringindividual and family coverage plans, said Laura Ryll, EVP/COO atPeach State FCU. The credit union earns a small amount of revenuebased on what plan the member purchases, she pointed out.

“From a business development perspective, we are also lettingour select employee groups know about Peach State InsuranceMarketplace as a tool for their benefit needs,” said Ryll.

In other parts of the country, credit unions have formedadditional health insurance partnerships.

Last July, employee benefits provider Digital Insurancepartnered with the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association to helpcredit union employees and members navigate the new healthreforms.

Through Digital Benefit Advisors, a division of Atlanta-basedDigital Insurance, Pennsylvania's credit unions have access to abroader variety of carriers and resources, including tools thatenable employers to assist human resource departments and betterunderstand health care reform, according to the PCUA. DigitalInsurance is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidelity NationalFinancial.

Consumers Mutual Insurance of Michigan was also created in 2013to offer health insurance to low- and moderate-income residents andsmall businesses in need of low cost insurance options. The EastLansing, Mich.-based firm said it received $72 million in a federalloan as part of the Affordable Care Act to become a ConsumerOperated and Oriented Plan health insurer, operating much as astatewide credit union where interests of members control companydecisions.