Dive Brief:
- Hawaii's Health Connector executive director, Jeff Kissel, said healthcare enrollment via the federal website, HealthCare.gov, is averaging 1.5 hours for individuals. This has raised concerns the state will not meet the re-enrollment deadline of Jan. 31.
- Some of the challenges he cited include limited language resources for non-English enrollees, difficulties with identity verification and tax status, and maintenance causing website down times.
- Kissel estimates the enrollment of 30,000 Hawaiians will take more than 140 work days, at a minimum of 45 minutes per enrollment. This will likely require an additional two months to process.
Dive Insight:
"We are trying to develop contingency plans with the state and CMS to expedite the enrollment process," Kissel told Pacific Business News. Hawaii Health Connector plans to request $535,000 in user fees from the state via a revised memorandum of agreement to cover IT support, document production requests, extended support services for HealthCare.gov, and potential small business enrollment reporting.
Hawaii ran into funding issues last May, according to healthinsurance.org, when the legislature only approved $2 million instead of the requested $10 million for Hawaii Health Connector. HHS had notified the state in March it was not complying with requirements to be financially self-sustaining as of January. The state had to transition to HeatlhCare.gov, which is being used for the current enrollment period. Health Connector will provide customer service and outreach through Oct. 2016.