Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Incompetence, Mismanagement Plague California’s Obamacare Insurance Exchange

Here are some highlights of a story from Sharyl Attkisson writing at the Daily Signal:
Whether it’s falling far short of 2015 enrollment goals or sending out 100,000 inaccurate tax forms, Covered California is struggling with its share of challenges.  
Now, several senior-level officials integral to the launch of Covered California—who enthusiastically support the Affordable Care Act—are speaking about what they view as gross incompetence and mismanagement involving some of the $1 billion federal tax dollars poured into the state effort. ... 
California ranked near the bottom in overall growth, with a scant 1 percent increase over last year. ... 
As recently as last fall, [an] official says, California hoped to increase enrollment by 500,000 this year. But only an additional 7,098 have “selected a plan” for 2015. ... 
Another telling statistic is Covered California’s poor retention rate. Even though people are required by law to have health insurance, only 65 percent of Covered California’s 2014 customers reenrolled in 2015. The rest dropped off. ... 
Covered California would not provide a tally of expenses, but the agency ended up asking the federal government for an extra $155 million. That put the cost of Covered California at more than $1.06 billion federal tax dollars. ... 
Covered California’s Lee publicly touted 30,000 successful enrollments for the first month. ... [T]he actual number was closer to 4,000. ...
The entire article is absolutely worth a read.