Traffic to a state website offering information on Arkansas’ health-insurance exchange has fallen “dramatically” since enrollment began Oct. 1, the state Insurance Department said in a report to a legislative committee on Thursday.

On Sunday, the website, arhealthconnector.org recorded 2,129 page views, down from 164,930 on Oct. 1, according to the report presented to the Legislature’s public health committees.

The number of visitors to the site fell from 13,470 to 808 during the same period.

Deputy Insurance Commissioner Cynthia Crone blamed the drop, in part, on the inability of the Insurance Department to update the site since Sept. 30, when the department’s contract with Little Rock advertising firm Mangan Holcomb Partners expired.

The department had planned to pay the firm to update the website as part of a campaign encouraging people to sign up for coverage, but the Legislative Council last month refused to review the contract extension that would pay for outreach efforts from Oct. 1 to March 31.

The Insurance Department doesn’t have the staff or the expertise to update the site, Crone said.

“We were having a lot of activity and a lot of repeat visitors,” Crone said. Now, she said, “They’ve kind of quit coming.”

Rep. John Burris, chairman of the House public health committee, said the Insurance Department had indicated that updating the website “seems like something we should be able to do internally.”

“I don’t think the answer is to say, now that the contract is expired, we can no longer update it, and oh, well, we’ll cross our arms,” Burris, R-Harrison, said.

Burris was a key sponsor of the bill that expanded Medicaid eligibility in Arkansas by using federal dollars to pay for coverage through the state health-insurance exchange.

About 500,000 Arkansans are expected to be eligible for some form of subsidized coverage under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Under the Medicaid expansion approved by the Legislature this year, adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level - $15,860 for an individual or $32,500 for a family of four - can sign up for a private plan on Arkansas’ insurance exchange and have their premiums paid by federal Medicaid funds.

Those who qualify for Medicaid will be able to sign up only for a silver, or midtier, plan. Medicaid-eligible individuals and families with incomes below the poverty level will not have to pay any costs out of pocket. For those with higher incomes, Medicaid subsidies will reduce the required co-payments and cap any out-of-pocket cost to the recipient at $604 for the year.

Those who don’t qualify for Medicaid but have incomes below 400 percent of the poverty level - $45,960 for an individual or $94,200 for a family of four - may qualify for federal tax credits to help pay their premiums. The value of the credits will vary based on income.

Coverage under plans sold on the exchange will start Jan. 1.

Mangan Holcomb Partners created the Insurance Department website under an initial, $4.3 million contract covering marketing efforts through Sept. 30.

But on the day that contract expired, the Legislative Council refused to review a $4.5 million extension that would have paid for marketing through the end of March.

All the legislators who voted against renewing the contract were Republicans, several of them saying they didn’t want to spend money to promote a federal law they opposed.

About $500,000 from the contract’s second phase would have paid for online marketing, including updates to the website, as well as outreach through social-media outlets and electronic newsletters.

As of Thursday, the site directs users to healthcare.gov, the federal website that has been plagued by problems that have prevented many people from using features to allow them to compare plans and sign up for coverage.

If the state Insurance Department was able to update the state website, it could provide visitors with information about other methods of enrolling, such as using paper applications, as well as offer tips on using the federal site, Crone said.

The department also would like to update the site with more current information about how people can make an appointment to get one-on-one help from one of the outreach workers being hired under contracts with the department, Crone said.

The department is updating its own website, www.insurance.arkansas.gov, but the information isn’t presented in a way that would be easy for a consumer to find, she said.

In response to a question from state Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, Crone said insurance companies selling plans on the state’s exchange were not required to contribute to the public outreach campaign.

The companies’ ads are focused on selling the plans, not providing impartial information, she said.

She added that an online marketing campaign will be especially important at reaching young, healthy people who don’t have insurance now.

“I think that states that are doing this effectively and getting a response from the people are investing” in outreach, Crone said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/25/2013