Language errors frustrate users

Errors on Spanish version of healthcare.gov

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Spanish-speaking community in Jacksonville is speaking out about their version of the government's healthcare website. The Spanish version of healthcare.gov was launched two weeks late, and critics told Channel 4 that it is riddled with grammatical errors that make it confusing and difficult to navigate. 

The name of the actual website is "Cuidado De Salud," which means "Caution of Health" in Spanish. People are also pointing out words like "prima" on the website, which is being used to mean "premium," but in the Spanish language "prima" is used to refer to a female cousin.

With an estimated 15 million uninsured people within the Latino community, experts told Channel 4 the site needs to be fixed before it defeats the purpose of its goal.

"Unfortunately they don't have enough Spanish speaking navigators and people manning the call site to help Hispanic people when they call in, when the website isn't working for them," said Life Planning Partners Dr. Carolyn McClanahan.

Cuidaddesalud.gov was launched in December, instead of its original October date, but the glaring language mistakes are what is really upsetting people using the site.

"Just looking at the website, there's one word that they're trying to say: 'to expand.. And so they put 'expaniando, which I have never heard of," said Krissty Andaur, who is fluent in the Spanish language. "I just know that if I were looking at this website, I would already be contemplating whether to use it or not, because clearly they can't even spell healthcare properly in Spanish."

Federal officials have apologized for the frustration and confusion with the website and have said that they are actively working to make it better. They are also encouraging users to express feedback on how to fix the typographical errors by contacting them through the hotline listed on the site.