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United States News Title: OBAMACARE UPDATE - 5 December 2013 OBAMACARE UPDATE - 5 December 2013 The Obama administration has declared mission accomplished on fixing the previously ailing website and only a few minor issues remain to be addressed. First, the flawed data for policy enrollment being issued to insurers is unusable. Second, the flawed data being given to states for Medicaid enrollment is unusable. Third, the system to calculate and pay subsidies to insurance companies has not been built yet. Fourth, the reconciliation system has not been built yet. Fifth, young, healthy people are saying "hell no," Sixth, ... Seventh, ... http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/01/us-usa-healthcare-progress-idUSBRE9B008I20131201 WASHINGTON Sun Dec 1, 2013 9:48am EST (Reuters) - The Obama administration declared victory on Sunday in its effort to get HealthCare.gov working smoothly for the vast majority of users, saying the site had reached a goal of handling 50,000 simultaneous users after a five-week "tech surge." [...] http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacare-website-still-hampered-bugs-and-glitches_769182.html By Daniel Halper Peter Doocy of Fox News reports that Healthcare.gov has not been working properly today: "Federal officials promised that healthcare.gov would work smoothly for a vast majority of users starting today. But that has not been the case so far because this morning the critical verification system is unavailable. That's the system that confirms identities and makes sure people are receiving proper coverage information. "And applications cannot be submitted without this ant step. The site says this particular problem should be solved within 24 hours. And there is another error much earlier in the process as well. When the site asks if an insurance agent or navigator is assisting you with your application. Ater clicking none of these people are offering any guidance, the next screen incorrectly displays a message declaring the opposite. The banner says, you told us another person is helping you. "Furthermore, an address associated with healthcare.gov has sent several erroneous e-mails this morning with an alert suggesting that logging in at the website will reveal a new message, however no message ever appeared. Officials have said November 30th was not a magical relaunch date for healthcare.gov, and that like any site, they predict there will be times moving forward when it does not perform optimally." http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/02/insurers-say-healthcaregov-not-fixed-yet/ Published December 02, 2013 So you think you've succeeded in making it through the ObamaCare website maze, and now you have health insurance? You might want to think again. Despite the Obama administration's claim that HealthCare.gov is "vastly improved," insurance companies are still grappling with error-riddled files fed to them from the flawed website. The lingering glitch could cause major problems weeks down the road, resulting in people thinking they've signed up when insurance companies have no record of them doing so. These so-called "back-end" problems were largely glossed over when federal health officials confidently claimed over the weekend they had met their own goals for improving the website by Dec. 1. [...] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/02/coverage-worries-grow-as-obamacare-cliff-nears/ By Chris Stirewalt COVERAGE WORRIES GROW AS OBAMACARE CLIFF NEARS - Millions of Americans who saw their insurance policies cancelled under ObamaCare have three weeks to get signed up for new plans or face coverage lapses. With that very real deadline looming, the Obama administration gave itself high marks on its self-imposed weekend deadline for improving the site on which the entitlement program depends. While the administration was boasting about a Web site that was 90 percent stable, worries were deepening about the real deadline. Insurers claim the system can’t reliably deliver customer information. Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, tells NYT, “Until the enrollment process is working from end to end, many consumers will not be able to enroll in coverage.” While the government site remains under repair and under construction, it is unclear how many Americans who believe they have purchased insurance are actually signed up for policies. The administration extended the signup deadline from Dec. 15 to Dec. 23, to be covered starting Jan. 1 but that may still prove impossible. [...] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/365278/core-incompetency-editors By The Editors December 1 has come and gone without the Obama administration’s having delivered its promised “fully functioning” health-care website — another item in President Obama’s catalogue of broken health-care promises, another example of his administration’s utter incompetence at anything other than campaigning. When it comes to making speeches, the president is pretty good; when it comes to getting things done, it’s a clown show. And now the clowns are running your health care. [...] http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/12/new-obamacare-headache-is-your-enrollment-real/ By Devin Dwyer and Mary Bruce Bob Shlora of Alpharetta, Ga., was supposed to be a belated Obamacare success story. After weeks of trying, the 61-year-old told ABC News he fully enrolled in a new health insurance plan through the federal marketplace over the weekend, and received a Humana policy ID number to prove it. But two days later, his insurer has no record of the transaction, Shlora said, even though his account on the government website indicates that he has a plan. “I feel like this: My application was taken … by a bureaucrat, it was put on a conveyor belt and it’s still going around, and it’s never going to leave the building,” he said. “I’ve lost hope. If it happens, great.” Obama administration officials acknowledged today that some of the roughly 126,000 Americans who completed the torturous online enrollment process in October and November might not be officially signed up with their selected issuer, even if the website has told them they are. Technical problems surrounding the transfer of an applicant’s personal information from the federal marketplace to the selected insurance company have plagued the system since its launch, making it difficult for insurers to finalize some enrollments. The 834 forms that issuers receive from the system have been riddled with errors, including often duplicate or incomplete information. While the front-end of the website has been vastly improved, the back-end glitches remain a serious concern, IT experts and industry officials say. “Until the enrollment process is working from end-to-end, many consumers will not be able to enroll in coverage,” said Karen Ignani, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans. “In addition to fixing the technical problems with healthcare.gov, the significant ‘backend’ issues must also be resolved to ensure that coverage can begin on Jan. 1, 2014.” [...] By Amy Goldstein and Juliet Eilperin The enrollment records for a significant portion of the Americans who have chosen health plans through the online federal insurance marketplace contain errors — generated by the computer system — that mean they might not get the coverage they’re expecting next month. [...] By: Jon Walker The Obama administration has managed to make some significant improvements to Healthcare.gov but it is still not working as well as the administration has led people to believe. On Sunday they bragged the site “has the capacity to handle 50,000 concurrent or simultaneous users at one time.” But the very next day that was proven not to be true when the system was unable to handle a much smaller number. [...] http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115793/healthcaregov-working-better-though-problems-remain By Jonathan Cohn In the weeks leading up to October 1, Obama Administration officials predicted that healthcare.gov would be functional but glitchy. It didn't happen then but it appears to be happening now. On Monday, the website for purchasing Obmacare insurance policies seemed to work and, for much of the day, it seemed to work well. But technical difficulties and errors stopped at least some users, performance overall lagged when traffic surged, and serious "back end" issues still need attention. [...] http://news.yahoo.com/insurers-fear-more-problems-revamped-obamacare-website-175732768--sector.html By Roberta Rampton [...] Insurers are receiving enrollment forms that have errors or are duplicated. And some go missing altogether, said Daniel Durham, a vice president for policy and regulatory affairs at America's Health Insurance Plans, a lobby group for health insurers. Durham's comments raised fresh questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to sign up hundreds of thousands of Americans before a December 23 deadline for coverage starting January 1, 2014. "So far we've been able to deal with these issues because there's been relatively low volume. It's been a heavy-duty manual process to make these fixes," Durham said at a forum organized by Georgetown University and law firm Arent Fox. "But now that the floodgates are open at the front end ... we're going to see a lot more volume. And health plans just don't have the personnel to do all this manually," he said. [...] By Aaron Blake Fewer than one-third of young, uninsured Americans say they are leaning toward enrolling in a health-care plan under the new Obamacare exchanges, according to a new poll -- a number that, if it holds, would present huge problems for the new law. [...] http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/obamacare-fix-wins-applause-but-troubles-remain-100632.html By David Nather For House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra, the new, improved Obamacare website is better than it was — but the law won’t be a success “until every American who has a chance to qualify for these health insurance policies gets it.” For Jeremy Milarsky, who works for one of the “navigator” groups in Missouri that’s helping people sign up, the website is improved enough to make the job easier, mainly because of a new health plan browser feature that actually works. But for health insurers across the country, the new HealthCare.gov isn’t even close to a success — and won’t be until the Obama administration finishes the critical parts that aren’t even built yet. [...] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/obamacare-enrollment_n_4384820.html Jeffrey Young Unresolved technical problems on HealthCare.gov could lead to a rude surprise at the doctor's office next month for patients who think they successfully used the website to sign up for health insurance. They may find they're not insured after all. [...] By Eric Pfeiffer One of the biggest public supporters of the Affordable Care Act has reportedly decided that some of his staff should be exempted from the new law. CNN reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is the only top congressional leader to exempt some of his staff from having to buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. [...] By John McCormick To appreciate why U.S. Representative Scott Peters has twice broken with his Democratic colleagues and voted to roll back parts of Obamacare, it’s helpful to know that his San Diego-area district is teeming with voters who have reasons to be angry about the law. The district has one of the nation’s highest proportions of residents who get health insurance through individual policies, instead of from an employer, and many have learned their policies are being canceled because they don’t comply with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Walter Niles is one of them. The self-employed biotechnology consultant with a doctorate in neuroscience was notified in September that his policy was being canceled. The coverage offered through Covered California, his state’s new insurance exchange, has left him unsatisfied. “I’m paying more and getting less,” said Niles, 59, who leans Republican yet also says he voted twice for President Barack Obama. “It is fundamentally a worse plan.” [...] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/365559/roll-dice-john-fund Young people reject Obama’s gamble with their future; they prefer online casinos. By John Fund President Obama is back selling his health-care law with the manic intensity of a late-night-infomercial pitchman who knows that if he doesn’t move the product, it could be discontinued. Here’s Obama aiming his comments at young people this Wednesday: “The product is good. It’s affordable. This is a big deal, to quote Joe Biden. And if you’re a student-body president, set up a conference on campus. If you’re a bartender, have a happy hour.” But it’s the president who may need a drink after viewing the latest poll numbers on young people’s attitudes towards Obamacare. [...] By: Jon Walker Now that the federal exchange is functioning less terribly it seems supporters of the Affordable Care Act are again trying to convince themselves popularity is just around the corner. While I could be wrong I simply can’t see the law every becoming truly popular. The simple fact is the law was unpopular while it was being drafted. It was unpopular when it was passed. It was unpopular for three years before it was implemented. While when Democrats were given their one chance to make a second first impression they completely fumbled the roll out. If the administration can finally fix the technical problems and start actually providing insurance to new people that should bring the law’s popularity back from its new lows, but I doubt that will be enough to make it truly popular. Opinions about the law are pretty firm and the law will not directly touch most people at first. In the first few years the law was meant to only affect about 10 percent of population. Of this group, arguably about 1 in 4 will legitimately consider themselves worse off because they are made to pay higher premiums or face more limited networks. Even among the people who are “winners”, they might not feel better off when they get hit with unexpected taxes due to incorrect subsidy calculations or find out a $12,000 annual cap doesn’t really protect them from a medical bankruptcy. [...] By Associated Press [snip] Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
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