The
May 1, 2015 Washington Post reports:
Nearly half of the 17 insurance marketplaces set up by the states and
the District under President Obama’s health law are struggling
financially, presenting state officials with an unexpected and serious
challenge five years after the passage of the landmark Affordable Care
Act.
Many of the online exchanges are wrestling with surging
costs, especially for balky technology and expensive customer call
centers — and tepid enrollment numbers. To ease the fiscal distress,
officials are considering raising fees on insurers, sharing costs with
other states and pressing state lawmakers for cash infusions. Some are
weighing turning over part or all of their troubled marketplaces to the
federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, which now works smoothly....
Most exchanges have operating budgets of $28 million to $32 million.
One of the biggest cost drivers is call centers, where operators answer
questions and can sign people up. Enrollment can be a lengthy process —
and in several states, contractors are paid by the minute. An even
bigger cost involves IT work to correct defective software that might,
for example, make mistakes in calculating subsidies.
“A lot of
people are going to want to know: What happened to all those taxpayer
dollars that went to these IT vendors?” said Sabrina Corlette, project
director of Georgetown University’s Center for Health Insurance Reforms.
The answer is that big software companies were one of the intended beneficiaries of this racket. I think of Obamacare as a tax increase with health insurance as a side effect.
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