After diluting the original requirements and purposes of the exchanges, they did open last week, well sort of. Many experienced serious problems, perhaps because of greater than expected interest, but more likely due to poor software and hardware, which really should not be unexpected in a large complex HIT undertaking. Consumers at most exchanges apparently had difficulty getting online, getting accurate information and particularly, getting enrolled. Concerns about privacy and security issues also were prevalent. While the Administration has misleadingly tried to present premiums on the exchanges as low, many consumers apparently were surprised by how much they would be paying for coverage. It is early, so we want to cut some slack on performance of the exchanges, but the Administration has showed extreme hubris from the start on the reform law, so there is little reason to be sympathetic to its problems with the exchange rollout. They should have been more upfront about the difficulty of implementing anything this complex. And of course, the real issues will come later, when subsidies are costing more than projected; there is widespread failure to obtain insurance among young people, and underpriced plans from relatively inexperienced players cause financial difficulties and coverage uncertainty. This law never should have been passed and more and more people will realize that as time goes on. UPDATE: We knew we were too generous; always a mistake and against our nature. The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the federal website, responsible for 36 state exchanges, has serious design and coding flaws which basically make it non-functional. (WSJ Article) These idiots gave themselves over five years to get ready and still couldn’t do it. Meanwhile a number of private exchanges are up and functioning fine. Hooray for big government!!
✅ Subscribe via Email
About this Blog
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at [email protected].
Healthy Skeptic Podcast
Research
MedPAC 2019 Report to Congress
June 18, 2019
Headlines
Tags
Access
ACO
Care Management
Chronic Disease
Comparative Effectiveness
Consumer Directed Health
Consumers
Devices
Disease Management
Drugs
EHRs
Elder Care
End-of-Life Care
FDA
Financings
Genomics
Government
Health Care Costs
Health Care Quality
Health Care Reform
Health Insurance
Health Insurance Exchange
HIT
HomeCare
Hospital
Hospital Readmissions
Legislation
M&A
Malpractice
Meaningful Use
Medicaid
Medical Care
Medicare
Medicare Advantage
Mobile
Pay For Performance
Pharmaceutical
Physicians
Providers
Regulation
Repealing Reform
Telehealth
Telemedicine
Wellness and Prevention
Workplace
Related Posts
Commentary
April 18, 2024
Progress Against Cancer
The US has made particularly good progress in treating cancer and limiting mortality, but much…
Commentary
April 17, 2024
I Am Done With Coronamonomania, Part 4, Vax Safety Edition
A somewhat lengthy examination of recent studies related mostly to vax safety, the results of…
Commentary
April 16, 2024
Concentration of US Health Spending
Another version of my favorite brief on who is responsible for health is out, with…