States, Insurers Seek Ways to Bypass Obamacare

Some insurers and at least one state are seeking ways to decouple from the improved but still flawed federal HealthCare.gov site, The Wall Street Journal reported.
 

Connecticut, which runs its own Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace, aims to establish enrollees are legal residents without relying on the need to tap into the federal system.

In addition, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is also developing work-arounds that would reduce the need for call-center workers to turn to the federal site when calculating the value of tax credits. This would speed the processing of straightforward applications, according to the Journal.

While navigating the site is now more problem-free for average users, the issues of identity-verification and accurate enrollment data have not been resolved.

Meanwhile, insurers continue to press the Obama administration for ways to enroll customers directly — though doing so undermines Obamacare's goal of offering comparison shopping to consumers.

Authorities expect a surge in demand on the federal site as millions of Americans — including the uninsured and those who will lose their coverage under Obamacare — rush to meet the Dec. 23 deadline for insurance that commences Jan. 1

According to Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., elected officials are still getting calls "from incredibly distressed citizens who've had their policies canceled, and yet are unable to enroll in a new plan."

 

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