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TheAssociatedPress LOSANGELES Certifiedin- surance agents who helped sign up 40 percent of indi- viduals in California's new health care plan say they are late receiving commis- sions, according to a report Thursday. The agents enrolled a half-million people for Covered California, the state's version of the new national health care law, but they have soured on the work due to late pay- ments and long wait times when they call to ask about payment, the Los Angeles Times reported. In a written report last week, Peter Lee, the ex- ecutive director of Cov- ered California, said the state still owes commis- sions to agents for enroll- ing small employers going back to June and hopes to make those payments next month. The state also owes 2,200 agents about $2 million for signing Californians up for Medi-Cal, the state's Med- icaid program for low-in- come residents, and those payments might not come until January. "Everything would be forgiven if Covered Cali- fornia's service level got up to industry standards," said Sam Smith, an insur- ance broker in Encino and immediate past president of the California Associa- tion of Health Underwrit- ers, an industry group. "If that doesn't happen, the damage could be per- manent." Lee has apologized for the exchange's poor service and mentioned the contri- butions of the certified in- surance agents in recent public remarks. Exchange spokesman Dana Howard told the Times that the average wait time for agents was about 30 minutes this week and more staff is be- ing added. It remains to be seen if that will be enough to con- vince agents to enroll more people in 2015. More than 1.2 million Californians need to re- new their policies, and the exchange wants to add an- other 500,000 people by mid-February. ACA Healthcareagentsstill unpaid a er plan's rollout The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO The San Francisco Zoo will retrofit the doors of its 30-year-old gorilla enclosure after the death of a baby gorilla, of- ficials said. The changes were rec- ommendations by an expert hired by the zoo to investi- gatethedeathofa16-month- old gorilla named Kabibe, The San Francisco Chroni- cle reported Thursday. The animal died Nov. 7 when she unexpectedly darted under the electric door as it closed. Dr. Terry Maple, a go- rilla expert, recommended the zoo update its doors, re- quire two keepers to be in the enclosure when the go- rillas are being moved, hire a full-time gorilla specialist, and install a backup genera- tor in the building. The recommendations al- low the zoo to move forward and to "ensure the future of this precious gorilla family and their critically endan- gered species," zoo Execu- tive Director Tanya Peter- son said in a statement. The doors have a history of mechanical failures, in- cluding jamming and unex- pectedly collapsing, accord- ing to zoo records. An adult gorilla had her hand caught under a door in July2012,accordingtothere- cords cited byTheChronicle. Last week, five zookeep- ers came forward with their concerns, saying the young gorilla would still be alive if top zoo officials had re- sponded to their concerns about the safety of the en- closure. They said the enclosure had a flawed layout, prob- lems with the doors and was understaffed. Zoo officials have said little in the wake of the go- rilla death. Peterson had previously said in a guest editorial in The Chronicle that the U.S. Department of Agriculture routinely inspects the enclo- sure, and in January found no noncompliant issues. Only about 750 western lowland gorillas live in cap- tivity and roughly 100,000 live in the wild in Central Africa. WILDLIFE Go ri ll a de at h pr om pt s SF Z oo ch an ge s Thank you! 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