As officials struggle to fix technical problems with the new federally run health-insurance exchange, some states that are operating their own programs are facing similar problems.
Oregon hasn't fully opened its website to the public and is directing residents to insurance brokers and counselors. Maryland officials Friday delayed until April the opening of its small-business exchange, so they could focus on improving a website that has prompted many residents to apply on paper.
"We are not satisfied with the way things are going," Rebecca Pearce, executive director of Maryland's exchange, told a state board Friday.
The Congressional Budget Office projected in May that seven million Americans overall would sign up for private coverage through new health-insurance exchanges by the end of 2014. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia are running their own health-care exchanges; the federal government is running HealthCare.gov in the other states.
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A navigator talks to a consumer about insurance in
Silver Spring, Md.
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Consulting firm Avalere Health said Monday that 49,100 people had enrolled through 12 states running their own exchanges as of Nov. 10. That total, which mostly excludes Medicaid enrollments and didn't include data from Oregon or California, was about 3% of the projected 2014 enrollments in those states, the firm said.
The low enrollment numbers so far throw into doubt whether the exchanges will meet enrollment goals, particularly of healthy people, who are needed to offset the higher costs of insuring sicker residents.
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Some states have reported large enrollment numbers, but those largely reflect enrollment in Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income people, which was expanded by the health-care law. Washington state, for example, said more than 55,000 residents newly enrolled in health coverage in October. Of those, 87% were in Medicaid, and only 7,341 were in private health plans...Read the full story HERE.
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1 comment:
It seems that most of the states that have their own exchanges have their own problems and glitches. Website Glitches to lack of enrollment.
Those that have the highest numbers were the ones who opted for the Medicare expansion...which is why their numbers are high.
BOTTOM LINE: THOSE (Young & Healthy) that need to join to subsidize those sicker and older folks to make this work...ARE NOT. AND WHY SHOULD THEY?
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