"Mass. may give up on still-failing health site" by Carolyn Y. Johnson | Globe Staff, February 27, 2014
The consultant brought in to help fix the state’s troubled health insurance marketplace acknowledged Thursday that its website may not be fully functioning by the end of June and that one option under consideration is to scrap the multimillion-dollar site and start over.
If only Obummer would do the same.
The lack of a working website may make it difficult to meet the June 30 deadline to move more than 200,000 people into insurance plans that comply with the federal Affordable Care Act, said Sarah Iselin, special assistant to Governor Deval Patrick.
After that rotten act ruined the website?
But she said the administration would devise a backup plan so residents would remain insured if the website is not ready — possibly by developing workarounds like the ones the state is already using to provide people temporary coverage without depending on the Health Connector website.
Iselin said that although there is no plan to request an extension from the Obama administration for compliance with the federal law, she can’t rule it out. The state was already granted one extension, from March 31, because of the flawed website.
“We are hedging our bets whether we will have a fully functional website for the June 30 deadline,” Iselin said at a meeting of Massachusetts Health Connector board Thursday.
I'm glad my health is being bet on and hedged, thank you.
Board member Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who consulted on drafting the state and federal health laws, said in an interview that it was smart for the Patrick administration to consider fall-back options given the extent of the problems....
Concrete long-term plans will be announced at future meetings, Iselin said, but the options for fixing the website include starting over from scratch, rebuilding parts of the site, or continuing the current situation, which involves using workarounds such as paper applications.
She did not address what these options might cost.
The website, created under Massachusetts’ 2006 landmark health insurance law, worked well for several years. But it was overhauled last year to meet the more complicated demands of the Affordable Care Act — by CGI, the same company that designed the federal health insurance website, which also had a disastrous rollout this fall.
While the performance of the federal site has improved markedly, the Massachusetts site continues to have serious problems.
The lie is enough to make you cry.
The website has been locking users out of accounts and providing confusing error messages. And parts of the system designed to automatically determine applicants’ eligibility for tax credits and to deliver key information to insurers simply have not worked.
Huh. Just pay the full premium and they'll fix it, right? Then you find out despite paying the premium they have no record of enrollment!
The flaws prompted the state to stop paying CGI on its $68 million contract — of which $15 million has been paid — and to bring in Optum, a separate health care technology firm, to fix the problems.
CGI issued a statement Thursday saying that the company “continues to work with the Commonwealth leadership around a shared set of priorities and bring focus to tasks and make progress that will move the system toward full functionality. CGI and its more than 300 team members continue to work tirelessly to deliver a health insurance exchange that effectively serves the people of Massachusetts and meets the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.”
Yeah, you guys are great!
Because of the problems, thousands of people have been unable to buy subsidized insurance through the Connector. The state has given them temporary coverage through the state Medicaid program. Others were allowed to keep expiring plans.
Some other states are confronting similar challenges with their websites. The Maryland Health Benefit Exchange this week fired the company hired to build its online marketplace.
Not a one-off, huh?
Iselin said that she was encouraged by the progress being made in developing more efficient workarounds to the website and that those should enable the state to soon chip away at a current backlog of 54,000 paper applications that need to be entered into computers and processed. The state has urged residents to submit paper applications instead of using the website.
A tool that began to be deployed on Monday can significantly cut down the time it takes to process a paper application, from 2 hours to 39 minutes. Additional staffing from Optum should be at capacity by early next week, with 318 additional people processing applications.
In the last week, 9,000 applications were entered into computers after they were flagged as a priority because they came from uninsured residents. A third of those applications were missing some data and need follow-up, but the remainder will be given transitional health coverage as of next week.
Even as the state has made progress in processing applications, however, new paper applications are arriving at a rate of about 1,000 applications per day.
Two weeks ago, the state reported it had a backlog of 50,000 applications as well as 22,000 unprocessed applications made through the website. The online applications were processed last week and 21,000 residents have been granted health coverage over the last two weeks.
But on Thursday, the paper backlog was still high, at 54,000 applications.
Iselin said she hopes that the rate of processing applications will increase with additional staffing and the new data entry tool, but she could not estimate yet how many applications would be processed per week....
The weak, lame-ass bull s*** being constantly trotted out makes me sick.
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"State dismisses health site firm; May hire new company to repair problems, seeks another extension to enroll residents" by Liz Kowalczyk | Globe staff March 18, 2014
Massachusetts is dropping the contractor that created the state’s dysfunctional online health insurance marketplace, ending a troubled partnership that has left thousands of consumers frustrated and many without coverage for months.
The state notified CGI last week that it was being terminated, and officials have started negotiating a transition. The $68-million contract with the Montreal-based technology consulting company expires in September, and Sarah Iselin, who was hired last month by Governor Deval Patrick to oversee repairs to the Health Connector website, said that exactly when CGI finishes its work and how much the state pays for it are subject to bargaining.
Massachusetts has paid just $15 million to CGI and has not made any payments since the fall.
“We have made the decision we are going to be parting ways with CGI,” Iselin said Monday during a meeting of the Massachusetts Health Connector Authority board.
Related: States Agree CGI Computer Software Sucks
And it is unhealthy.
Iselin said she decided against scrapping the website entirely and starting again, an option that was being considered a few weeks ago. Instead, she is leaning toward working with a new company to rebuild key portions of the website.
The website is supposed to tell consumers whether they qualify for a subsidized plan, calculate the cost of coverage, and enable them to compare plans and enroll. It has not worked properly since it was launched in October, leading the state to encourage people to fill out paper applications instead....
Massachusetts will not meet the June 30 deadline to move more than 200,000 people into insurance plans that comply with the federal Affordable Care Act, she said. The state intends to ask the federal government for another three-month extension. The enrollment deadline was previously delayed from the end of March. A federal official she spoke to over the weekend signaled that the government wants to “work with us and be as flexible as they can,’’ Iselin told the board.
CGI declined a request for an interview through its public relations firm, Denterlein, but released a written statement....
The website, created under the state’s 2006 landmark health insurance law, worked well for several years. But it was overhauled last year to meet the more complicated demands of the Affordable Care Act, by CGI, the same company that designed the federal health insurance website, which also had a disastrous rollout last fall.
Obummercare ruined the Mass Health web site.
The federal HealthCare.gov site is now working much better.
If you keep on saying it we might believe it.
The US government stopped working with CGI in January.
One major question is how much the failures will cost....
And guess who will be picking up the tab, taxpayers?
And now the failed model is going to cost us grant money?
"Troubled Mass. health site leads to feud on $45m grant; Federal money was for model insurance marketplace; Conn. wants a share because Bay State failed" by Tracy Jan | Globe Staff March 21, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s hopes that Massachusetts would serve as a model for New England states enrolling residents in health insurance has collapsed in a bitter regional feud over tens of millions of dollars, a victim of the botched rollout of the state’s online insurance portal.
This thing has been a disaster at all levels!
Connecticut health care officials are now mounting a campaign to collect a portion of a $45 million federal innovation grant that was awarded to Massachusetts to build a state-of-the-art consumer platform for President Obama’s insurance program. The original idea was that the technical underpinnings of Massachusetts’ computer system could be shared with other New England states.
“We’re not looking to get greedy. We just want to make sure we have our proper allocation,” said Kevin Counihan, chief executive of Access Health CT, Connecticut’s insurance marketplace.
Massachusetts has failed to produce a successful computer model to share, and in the meantime Connecticut’s insurance marketplace, built by Deloitte LLP, is working so well that the state is now offering its computer system as a model for other struggling states.
Related: Done With Deloitte
Just don't hire them to do unemployment web sites.
Counihan said five states have expressed interest in piggybacking off Connecticut’s insurance marketplace, but not Massachusetts.
“Some states were trying to build a Maserati. We built a Ford Focus,’’ Counihan said. “It might not be as glamorous but it runs. It can get you to the store.”
The Massachusetts website was supposed to tell consumers if they qualify for a subsidized plan, calculate the cost, and help them to compare plans and enroll. But the site has not worked properly since it was launched in October, leading the state to encourage people to fill out paper applications instead.
This week, state officials announced that CGI, the contractor responsible for building Massachusetts’ insurance marketplace, would be terminated.
Of the $45 million federal grant, about $24 million was spent building Massachusetts’ failed health insurance marketplace, including about $5 million paid to CGI, according to the state. The rest of the money is budgeted to rebuild the broken system or set up another one.
Dr. Jay Himmelstein, chief policy strategist for the UMass Medical School’s Center for Health Policy and Research and who is overseeing the federal grant, contends the money was never meant to be disbursed among the states....
The White House had trumpeted the collaboration among New England states long before it became clear that Massachusetts’ troubles with CGI would make a regional collaboration all but impossible.
“We had hopes and fantasies that we would do essentially what Connecticut is doing,” Himmelstein said.
That's "fight for a share of the grant money."
A fair way to divide the money, Counihan said....
Massachusetts maintains that the money belongs within its system. Other states were to benefit from the grant not with a cut of the federal money, said Himmelstein, but with “in-kind knowledge transfer from the Massachusetts development experience.”
Massachusetts spent about $1.1 million of the money to create a regional learning collaborative. The group convened monthly meetings for about two years, but the group fizzled in 2012 after Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont struck off in their own direction to build separate insurance software systems. (Maine and New Hampshire decided not to run a state insurance marketplace, and instead, used the one designed by the federal government.)
It quickly became apparent to the participating states that they would benefit most if they applied for their own federal grants. “It made sense for states to go after their own funding and build systems that they could control,” Himmelstein said.
Republicans are calling the demise of the $45 million regional approach an example of waste in Obama’s health plan....
To build its own system, Connecticut received a total of nearly $140 million in various federal grants. Rhode Island has received $113 million, and Vermont, $168 million. Massachusetts, including the $45 million innovation grant, has received a total of $179 million....
The New England innovation grant was to end in February 2013, but because of Massachusetts’ delays in its insurance portal, the federal government extended the deadline for the money to be used until the end of 2014, Himmelstein said.
The reaction from Vermont and Rhode Island officials has been muted, with few openly accusing Massachusetts of short-changing them....
"State dismisses health site firm; May hire new company to repair problems, seeks another extension to enroll residents" by Liz Kowalczyk | Globe staff March 18, 2014
Massachusetts is dropping the contractor that created the state’s dysfunctional online health insurance marketplace, ending a troubled partnership that has left thousands of consumers frustrated and many without coverage for months.
The state notified CGI last week that it was being terminated, and officials have started negotiating a transition. The $68-million contract with the Montreal-based technology consulting company expires in September, and Sarah Iselin, who was hired last month by Governor Deval Patrick to oversee repairs to the Health Connector website, said that exactly when CGI finishes its work and how much the state pays for it are subject to bargaining.
Massachusetts has paid just $15 million to CGI and has not made any payments since the fall.
“We have made the decision we are going to be parting ways with CGI,” Iselin said Monday during a meeting of the Massachusetts Health Connector Authority board.
Related: States Agree CGI Computer Software Sucks
And it is unhealthy.
Iselin said she decided against scrapping the website entirely and starting again, an option that was being considered a few weeks ago. Instead, she is leaning toward working with a new company to rebuild key portions of the website.
The website is supposed to tell consumers whether they qualify for a subsidized plan, calculate the cost of coverage, and enable them to compare plans and enroll. It has not worked properly since it was launched in October, leading the state to encourage people to fill out paper applications instead....
Massachusetts will not meet the June 30 deadline to move more than 200,000 people into insurance plans that comply with the federal Affordable Care Act, she said. The state intends to ask the federal government for another three-month extension. The enrollment deadline was previously delayed from the end of March. A federal official she spoke to over the weekend signaled that the government wants to “work with us and be as flexible as they can,’’ Iselin told the board.
CGI declined a request for an interview through its public relations firm, Denterlein, but released a written statement....
The website, created under the state’s 2006 landmark health insurance law, worked well for several years. But it was overhauled last year to meet the more complicated demands of the Affordable Care Act, by CGI, the same company that designed the federal health insurance website, which also had a disastrous rollout last fall.
Obummercare ruined the Mass Health web site.
The federal HealthCare.gov site is now working much better.
If you keep on saying it we might believe it.
The US government stopped working with CGI in January.
One major question is how much the failures will cost....
And guess who will be picking up the tab, taxpayers?
--more--"
And now the failed model is going to cost us grant money?
"Troubled Mass. health site leads to feud on $45m grant; Federal money was for model insurance marketplace; Conn. wants a share because Bay State failed" by Tracy Jan | Globe Staff March 21, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s hopes that Massachusetts would serve as a model for New England states enrolling residents in health insurance has collapsed in a bitter regional feud over tens of millions of dollars, a victim of the botched rollout of the state’s online insurance portal.
This thing has been a disaster at all levels!
Connecticut health care officials are now mounting a campaign to collect a portion of a $45 million federal innovation grant that was awarded to Massachusetts to build a state-of-the-art consumer platform for President Obama’s insurance program. The original idea was that the technical underpinnings of Massachusetts’ computer system could be shared with other New England states.
“We’re not looking to get greedy. We just want to make sure we have our proper allocation,” said Kevin Counihan, chief executive of Access Health CT, Connecticut’s insurance marketplace.
Massachusetts has failed to produce a successful computer model to share, and in the meantime Connecticut’s insurance marketplace, built by Deloitte LLP, is working so well that the state is now offering its computer system as a model for other struggling states.
Related: Done With Deloitte
Just don't hire them to do unemployment web sites.
Counihan said five states have expressed interest in piggybacking off Connecticut’s insurance marketplace, but not Massachusetts.
“Some states were trying to build a Maserati. We built a Ford Focus,’’ Counihan said. “It might not be as glamorous but it runs. It can get you to the store.”
The Massachusetts website was supposed to tell consumers if they qualify for a subsidized plan, calculate the cost, and help them to compare plans and enroll. But the site has not worked properly since it was launched in October, leading the state to encourage people to fill out paper applications instead.
This week, state officials announced that CGI, the contractor responsible for building Massachusetts’ insurance marketplace, would be terminated.
Of the $45 million federal grant, about $24 million was spent building Massachusetts’ failed health insurance marketplace, including about $5 million paid to CGI, according to the state. The rest of the money is budgeted to rebuild the broken system or set up another one.
Dr. Jay Himmelstein, chief policy strategist for the UMass Medical School’s Center for Health Policy and Research and who is overseeing the federal grant, contends the money was never meant to be disbursed among the states....
The White House had trumpeted the collaboration among New England states long before it became clear that Massachusetts’ troubles with CGI would make a regional collaboration all but impossible.
“We had hopes and fantasies that we would do essentially what Connecticut is doing,” Himmelstein said.
That's "fight for a share of the grant money."
A fair way to divide the money, Counihan said....
Massachusetts maintains that the money belongs within its system. Other states were to benefit from the grant not with a cut of the federal money, said Himmelstein, but with “in-kind knowledge transfer from the Massachusetts development experience.”
Massachusetts spent about $1.1 million of the money to create a regional learning collaborative. The group convened monthly meetings for about two years, but the group fizzled in 2012 after Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont struck off in their own direction to build separate insurance software systems. (Maine and New Hampshire decided not to run a state insurance marketplace, and instead, used the one designed by the federal government.)
It quickly became apparent to the participating states that they would benefit most if they applied for their own federal grants. “It made sense for states to go after their own funding and build systems that they could control,” Himmelstein said.
Republicans are calling the demise of the $45 million regional approach an example of waste in Obama’s health plan....
To build its own system, Connecticut received a total of nearly $140 million in various federal grants. Rhode Island has received $113 million, and Vermont, $168 million. Massachusetts, including the $45 million innovation grant, has received a total of $179 million....
The New England innovation grant was to end in February 2013, but because of Massachusetts’ delays in its insurance portal, the federal government extended the deadline for the money to be used until the end of 2014, Himmelstein said.
The reaction from Vermont and Rhode Island officials has been muted, with few openly accusing Massachusetts of short-changing them....
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