Dive Brief:
- The Hawaii Health Connector will cease operations on Dec. 1, bumping up its end date from the initial plan to continue until February 2016.
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The state exchange will lay off its 22 employees and 20 temporary staff members by Dec. 4, officials say. Connector Executive Director Jeff Kissel had previously announced he would be taking a new position at a Washington, D.C. energy think tank.
- The decision to shut down the state exchange and move Hawaii to HealthCare.gov was made earlier this year because the Connector was failing to achieve required financial independence.
Dive Insight:
The Connector is closing earlier than planned because confusion surfaced about its funding, officials say.
Laurel Johnston, deputy chief of staff to Gov. David Ige, reports the Connector had received $10 million in funding from the CMS during the summer but hadn't understood it would not be allowed for operational expenses after the January deadline for financial independence. After that point, the funds were to be used only for outreach.
“There was confusion both on the Connector's side and on the CMS side about what those funds could be used for, and when they finished their discussion, [it was clear the Connector] couldn't use those funds for ongoing operations, so that was pretty much it,” Johnston told the Pacific Business News.
The publication reports about 40,000 people who enrolled in plans through the Connector will have to re-enroll through HealthCare.gov by Dec. 15.