Despite Covered California plowing through $1.06 billion in federal dollars, HCA warns the program is near administrative collapse.
Earlier this year, California’s health insurance exchange, established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, was touted as a model for other states to follow. But the program has since been under a barrage of attacks for a myriad of failures, including abysmal enrollment performance and sending out over 100,000 inaccurate tax forms.
HCA’s letter to the Board warns, “We are concerned that public support for the (Affordable Care Act) will erode as more and more consumers encounter these types of tax problems and face exposure to IRS debts and penalties.” The group also alleges that Covered California’s failure to correct subsidy forms has caused some consumers to not be able to receive tax credits or amend their tax returns.
Many of Covered California problems began when it awarded $360 million to Accenture in 2012 to design coveredca.com as a supposedly automated exchange and enrollment system. But the Health Consumer Alliance claims that after two years, staff still have only limited ability to update the computer program used to determine consumers’ eligibility for exchange coverage under Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.
When coveredca.com first launched in September 2013, there were major usabilityproblems, including: 1) lack of login link on the landing page; 2) five different sets of security questions; 3) demanding tax returns for young children; 4) inability to go back and forward through the application without being closed out; and 5) demands to verify income without a way to file proof, according to Chilmark Research.
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2015/08/23/covered-california-facing-administrative-collapse/
#AllTheNews 