The Hawaii Health Connector is making an aggressive push for enrollment this weekend after a federal study showed Hawaii with the lowest number of Obamacare sign-ups nationwide.

The Connector, the state’s online health insurance marketplace created by President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, is promoting a "Weekend of Action," holding 21 outreach events on Oahu and the neighbor islands from Friday to Sunday.

The application deadline for subsidized health coverage is March 31.

"We’re encouraged by the steady increase in enrollment since we launched our #EnrollHI outreach efforts. We’re urging everyone across our Islands to take action. Now is the time to act if you don’t have coverage," Tom Matsuda, the Connector’s interim executive director, said in a statement. 

Signing up for coverage hasn’t been easy since open enrollment started in October. The online marketplace launched two weeks late on Oct. 15 due to software glitches and has enrolled just 4,297 of 18,752 applicants as of Feb. 15.

Kailua resident Nanette Napoleon is still uninsured despite numerous attempts and dozens of hours spent trying to get medical coverage through the Connector.

"My health insurance plan is somewhere lost in cyberspace," she said after "trying desperately" to get individual coverage since October. "Although the Connector continually tells us how easy it is to get insurance, it has been my experience that it is anything but easy."

Napoleon selected a plan on Dec. 14, but then switched to a lower-cost option the next day. A month later she received the wrong policy from Hawaii Medical Service Association and has since been trying to resolve the problem. Because she didn’t pay for the higher-cost plan, she did not receive coverage.

"I am continually frustrated and dismayed at just how dysfunctional the Connector is," she said. "What a big, fat mess."

The sentiment is shared by a number of frustrated consumers, many of whom have tried repeatedly to get Obamacare coverage.

Honolulu resident Donald Mastriano, 69, was told he had signed up his wife, Maria, for coverage on the exchange, but is now receiving bills from Kaiser Permanente Hawaii stating that his wife is uninsured and must pay the full amount. 

"It’s been a constant battle for four months and it’s still totally screwed up. Technically, the back end is not working. There’s a big disconnect," he said. "I call the exchange, they tell me she’s covered. Kaiser tells me that she’s not insured. The exchange is still not sending the right information on the back end to Kaiser correctly. I’m damned if I’m going to pay it. I got proof that she’s supposed to be covered."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported last week that Hawaii had the lowest number of individuals who selected a health plan — 3,614, less than 1 percent of the population of 1.4 million — from Oct. 1 through Feb. 1.  

The small number of enrollees is due in part to Hawaii having an already low number of uninsured — estimated at 100,000 — because of the state’s 1974 Prepaid Health Care Act that requires employers provide medical coverage for full-time workers.

Another possible reason for the low number in Hawaii is that the Connector must rely on the state Department of Human Services to first determine whether applicants seeking financial 

assistance are eligible for Medicaid before they can be processed.

DHS has up to 45 days to determine whether Connector applicants are eligible for Medicaid — the health insurance program for low-income residents — which has caused a bottleneck in Obamacare enrollments.

The Connector’s Matsuda said Hawaii’s low numbers could also be due to many in Hawaii keeping their current health plan even if they are eligible for coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

"It’s also important to point out that when the federal government last fall gave states the option to continue offering older pre-ACA health plans, Hawaii, as with many other states, decided to accept that option," Matsuda added. "The result for many consumers was good because it allowed them to keep existing plans, sometimes at lower cost than an ACA plan. The consequence for the Connector was fewer enrollments."

In its latest enrollment drive, the Connector will particularly target younger adults, known as the "invincibles," many of whom say insurance might be an unnecessary added expense. The nonprofit will be holding an enrollment drive at the University of Hawaii at Manoa as part of its Young Invincibles Enrollment Week, geared toward college students, especially those no longer covered under their parents’ health plan. The Affordable Care Act allows individuals up to age 26 to be covered under their parents’ policies.

"We’ve also invested significant time and resources to reach out and educate younger adults about the value of health insurance coverage," Matsuda said.

One-third of Hawaii’s Obamacare enrollees were between ages 55 and 64, while just 14 percent were between ages 26 and 34, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Hawaii lawmakers are considering turning the Connector, which is a private nonprofit, into a state agency. The Connector is currently funded with $204.3 million in federal grants that expire at year’s end.

Consumers must sign up for medical coverage or face tax penalties starting this year. For more information, call the Connector’s Customer Support Center at 877-628-5076.