Private company offers Alaskans health insurance option

ANCHORAGE - The troubled HealthCare.gov website has kept many people from signing up for health insurance. 

Now, a private company is working to get people covered outside the federal marketplace.

Enroll Alaska is taking steps to sign Alaskans up for health insurance.  Problems with HealthCare.gov forced them to suspend operations last month, but they're back and have ditched the federal website. 

Instead, Enroll Alaska is helping people who don't qualify for federal subsidies sign up for plans not offered in the marketplace. 

"And what's important is that if an individual comes [to] us and they don't think they qualify for a subsidy, and we'll help make that determination for them, and if they do qualify for a subsidy, we'll wait and enroll them when HealthCare.gov is functioning, when the marketplace is working," said Enroll Alaska COO Tyann Boling.

Enroll Alaska estimates that about 25,000 uninsured Alaskans won't qualify for help paying insurance. That means they can enroll in an insurance plan without losing out on government subsidies.