California Isn'r The Only State Exchange in Trouble

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.