Bureaucratic Delays, Shifting Deadlines: CA Healthcare Rollout

The Affordable Care Act, called Covered California here, continues to confuse people who want to sign up. The rush of new applicants has created a backlog of applications in California. The good news is that if you're late on a premium payment, you now have until January 15 to pay for coverage that was scheduled to begin January 1. But the latest fudging of what were concrete deadlines underscores a bigger problem for Covered California: confusing rules for consumers. And they can't get answers from state officials and insurance companies, mainly because people can't get through on the phone.