The (Democratic-controlled) Oregon state government will not have its website up and running in time. I repeat: the Oregon state government will not have its website up and running in time. Rely on the website, and you will have gaps in coverage.
People who want health coverage beginning in January through Oregon’s troubled insurance exchange need to act fast.
State officials said Wednesday they don’t expect to have the online enrollment system working in time for people to enroll in plans that begin on the first of the year. They also announced that paper applications, their backup system, must be mailed within just two weeks, by Dec. 4.
[snip]
[Exchange Director Rocky] King said the latest projections show the system should be ready for individuals to enroll online beginning Dec. 16, which would mean people who enroll on the first day would get coverage beginning in February.
King then had the audacity to say this: “We’re not broken,” King told lawmakers. “It’s just not done.” …No. No, this is pretty much the definition of ‘broken.’ As is ‘you have to mail in your applications and hope that we don’t lose the paperwork the way that bureaucracies have been doing since the time of the Babylonians.’ And I’m not even bringing up the tax situation that might arise from picking a non-approved plan. EAT the tax, if you have to*.
I’ll finish this up with a comment from the above article that sums up the situation pretty much perfectly.
“This would just be kind of a bad joke about the state’s ability to build and deploy large IT projects, except for the impact on people’s lives,” said Rep. Jason Conger, a Bend Republican who is running for U.S. Senate.
I have no idea whether Rep. Conger is the best Republican choice for this race, but he’s got the right idea there. This is funny, until you start thinking about all the people that Senator Jeff Merkley and Governor John Kitzhaber are hurting through their support of Obamacare. And I do not use the term ‘hurting’ loosely: I am speaking of actual physical pain. People can DIE when the government screws up their health care options.
Moe Lane
*Note that I’m assuming that this would be an option: Oregon is one of the states going along with Obama’s rather desperate Hail Mary play, which should tell you how badly their state exchange is screwed up.
Only slightly OT, but this is something I’ve been wondering about for the last week or so: why don’t insurers just up and say that the Prez has no legal authority to order that cancelled plans be reinstated? (Leave aside for the moment that he also has no legal authority to delay the employer mandate.) They are, after all, following the law as written. Personally, I’d like to see that…
What, and paint a bullseye on their own backs?
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No, this is one of those situations where the correct approach is to say “Right away, sir!” and then ignore whatever the dubious request was…
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Mew
I live in a solidly Republican state where the state government put together an exchange over the objections of the populace.
They knew they were playing with fire, so they hired competent people to build the system and listened to them, testing and QA were high priority items, and the politicians with their heinies on the line made darn sure they got regular updates and knew about any potential problems.
It’s likely the best-functioning exchange in the nation.
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There’s still a single point of fail. The federal government insisted that it be the one to collect the intake data and calculate the subsidy. It isn’t doing so consistently or accurately, passing the information along consistently or accurately, or doing any of it securely. They’re coding a replacement and basically telling the feds to go hang, but it isn’t projected to be ready until next October.
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There’s also controversy over the contract initially being awarded in a no-bid contract to an individual whose company had experience building both state government and insurance programs (and had, until a couple of weeks before, served as the Governor’s technology advisor).
One one hand, he was clearly the best person for the job based on his prior achievements, and the political principals had already established a high degree of trust with him.
OTOH… It would be hard for the optics to have been worse. And since the Democratic party in Idaho is *just* powerful enough to keep any third party from displacing it, corruption is a pretty large concern.
Dangit Moe, your “contact me” form isn’t working.
So feel free to delete this post, as it’s just a way to pass something on.
You called this one: http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/project-veritas-drops-another-bomb-on-obamacare-do-whatever-it-f-takes/
Also if you have gotten thru the exchange and chosen an insurance provider contact them make sure they have gotten your info and set up a payment arrangement. They need to have it by Dec. 15th if you are going to have coverage on Jan. 1st. Don’t wait for the exchange payment method to be set up, it won’t be.