ACA (Obamacare) updates for 2014

Big news first... I thought it was fixed?

Obama administration to end contract with CGI Federal, company behind HealthCare.gov

The Obama administration has decided to jettison CGI Federal, the main IT contractor that was responsible for building the defect-ridden online health insurance marketplace and has been immersed in the work of repairing it, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Federal health officials are preparing to sign a 12-month contract worth roughly $90 million, probably early next week, with a different company, Accenture, after concluding that CGI has not been effective enough in fixing the intricate computer system underpinning the federal Web site, HealthCare.gov, the individual said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ ... story.html

Oregon hasn't sign up a single person through their exchange. They've been shuffling papers.

Gov. denies prior knowledge of Cover Oregon failure, exits exclusive KATU interview

PORTLAND, Ore. – Gov. John Kitzhaber’s staff hastily ended his scheduled one-on-one interview with KATU News on Thursday morning barely four minutes after it had begun when KATU began asking about problems with Cover Oregon's website.

Kitzhaber was in Portland to discuss Cover Oregon’s new enrollment numbers even as he admitted the exchange’s costly and all-important website will likely not be functioning for the foreseeable future.

http://www.katu.com/news/investigators/ ... 87331.html

Must be those Republicans obstructing information about the ACA.

Most uninsured Americans lack knowledge about Obamacare: survey

(Reuters) - Most uninsured adult Americans lack basic knowledge about President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law and haven't visited their online insurance marketplace because they think health insurance is unaffordable, according to a survey released on Thursday.

The survey from Enroll America, a non-profit healthcare enrollment coalition, found that 68 percent of uninsured adults had not yet logged onto their online exchanges.

A similar number, 69 percent of the uninsured, still lacked knowledge about tax subsidies and other financial help designed to make the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, affordable for many, the survey said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/ ... F420140109

Ya better check your mail boxes for those phantom premium notices.

Some find health insurers have no record of them - As consumers try to use new medical policies, many find their insurers have no record of them

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Record-keeping snags could complicate the start of insurance coverage this month as people begin using policies they purchased under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Insurance companies are still trying to sort out cases of so-called health insurance orphans, customers for whom the government has a record that they enrolled, but the insurer does not.

Government officials say the problem is real but under control, with orphan records being among the roughly 13,000 problem cases they are trying to resolve with insurers. But insurance companies are worried the process will grow more cumbersome as they deal with the flood of new customers who signed up in December as enrollment deadlines neared.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/health-in ... 26952.html

That's enough for now. More to come (you can be assured of that).

And we are supposed to be a first world nation. Maybe that is what happens when you give a Canadian company with a history of failure a no-bid contract?

I am sure it is just a messaging problem.

BlazerBob wrote: I am sure it is just a messaging problem.

Just remember this paragraph from the Washington Post article when you hear the administration bragging about enrollment numbers...

At the start of December, administration officials announced that the Web site was largely working for consumers who wanted to enroll in health plans. But the site continues to malfunction in other ways. For instance, it is not yet able to automatically enroll people eligible for Medicaid in states’ programs, compute exact amounts to be sent to insurers for their customers’ federal subsidies, and tabulate precisely how many consumers have paid for their insurance premiums and are therefore actually covered.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ ... story.html

Fubar

Care to make any guesses which story will lead on the news tonight, Bridge-Gate, or the firing of the ACA website creators?

Accenture? Out of the frying pan, into the fire. This was the consulting side of Arthur Anderson.

FredHayek wrote: Care to make any guesses which story will lead on the news tonight, Bridge-Gate, or the firing of the ACA website creators?

They didn't fire them. There contract was finished. They just decided not to renew their contract at the end of February.

A bit of a difference.

House Democrats break ranks with the White House on ObamaCare vote

Dozens of House Democrats broke ranks with President Obama on Friday to support legislation that would require people to be notified of security breaches under ObamaCare.

The House passed the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act, H.R. 3811, in a 291-122 vote. Sixty-seven Democrats voted for the bill, ignoring arguments from party leaders that the bill was a "messaging" vote meant to discourage people from signing up for insurance.

The one-sentence bill says that no later than two business days after any security breach on an ObamaCare site is discovered, "the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall provide notice of such breach to each individual." Republicans said that under current law, the government is not required to notify people if their information is put at risk.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/h ... urity-bill

This will fail in the Senate (or Reid won't even allow it to come to the floor) and then 67 Democrats will be able to have a bone to throw to their constituents during the next election cycle.

Nothing to see here.

Sounds like a reasonable bill to me... not sure why having an extra layer of protection/warning is a bad thing.

Rick wrote: Sounds like a reasonable bill to me... not sure why having an extra layer of protection/warning is a bad thing.

Because by law, the federal government does not have to report on hacking breaches of their systems.