Health Exchange Status Update: Two Key Fixes Will Take Longer Than Expected
Making the necessary repairs will likely take more talent and more offline time for the online marketplace. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by CBS found that very few Americans think the federal online insurance marketplace's launch has gone well.
The Washington Post: Two Key Parts Of Online Health Insurance Exchange Will Take Longer To Fix Than Expected
The Obama administration acknowledged Tuesday that two key parts of its online health insurance marketplace will take longer than expected to fix, even as it brought back a former senior White House official to help diagnose and correct the website's flaws. A senior health official said that the insurance exchange, HealthCare.gov, is still unable to perform one of its basic functions: making it easy for low-income Americans to enroll in Medicaid electronically. Days before the exchange opened three weeks ago, the administration said that feature was not ready but would be available by Nov. 1, at the latest (Eilperin and Goldstein, 10/22).
Bloomberg: Obamacare Site Needing Fresh Talent Added To Downtime
To repair its troubled health-care website, the Obama administration may need to add project workers with fresh talent, take portions of the system off line for days or weeks, and conduct more comprehensive tests to prevent crashes and delays, technology experts say (Wayne and Ricadela, 10/23).
The Richmond Times Dispatch: No Easy Fix For Health Insurance Website, Experts Say
David Evans believes drastic change would probably be the best way to solve problems with the federal government’s health insurance website. "Probably the right solution would be to scrap what has been done so far and start from scratch,” said Evans, a professor of computer science at the University of Virginia. "But it’s difficult to throw away hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of work. … It's hard for the federal government to operate like a startup company" (Hallman and Blackwell, 10/23).
Politico: Poll: 12% Say Obamacare Rollout 'Going Well'
Following the troubled rollout of the website behind Obamacare, very few Americans said the launch is going well, according to a new poll out Tuesday. Only 12 percent said the enrollment process on Healthcare.gov is going well, the CBS survey shows. Almost half of Americans say it isn't and 38 percent say they can’t evaluate (McCalmont, 10/22).
