Report: Healthcare.gov Website Must be Functional by Mid-March to Avoid “Disaster”

WHAT IS THE REAL GOAL?

by Sharon Rondeau

(Jan. 18, 2014) — The Hill is reporting that a new contractor hired to complete the “back end” of the troubled Healthcare.gov website must complete its work within the next two months to avert “disaster” for the medical insurance industry.

The title erroneously references “mid-December,” which at least two readers have pointed out in comments published beneath the article.

According to another article in The Hill, approximately 50 new regulations are “now under construction at various agencies and are on track to be issued within the next 12 months” in regard to the controversial Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare”  The Post & Email has not linked to the article because of adult-content advertising on the sidebar.

Upon the October 1, 2013 rollout of Healthcare.gov, the “back end” of the website “remained largely unbuilt,” although Americans were not informed of that at the time. The unfinished construction has caused many insurers not to receive payment for the coverages they are allegedly providing.

A document issued by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services states that a new company, Accenture, was hired without the customary competitive bidding because of the urgency of the work to be completed.  Accenture replaced CGI, which was paid $290 million to create a functional website.  CGI has since renewed or been granted new contracts with different agencies of the federal government despite its reported failure to properly build Healthcare.gov.

ACA Contractor Document

While Politico reports that 1.2 million people have registered for health care through Healthcare.gov, others say the number is something over 2,000,000.  According to ABC News, an almost equal number of registrants came from the 14 states which established their own exchanges as through the federal health care portal.

Those who have registered and paid a premium through Healthcare.gov have been instructed to verify that their payment reached the insurance company and that coverage was put in place.

The federal subsidies promised to some, if not most, of ACA enrollees through the federal website have reportedly not been disbursed yet.  Subsidies are reportedly being estimated, since a “payment mechanism” is not yet in place.  The subsidy payout schedule reportedly contains “disincentives” for working people such that they will be discontinued when a certain income threshold is crossed.

On January 6, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit over Obamacare subsidies, which Obama ruled by executive fiat will be granted to Congress.

All states except for 14 and the District of Columbia opted not to create insurance exchanges since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that forcing them to do so would be “coercive.”  Since last summer, Obama has unilaterally issued alterations to the law passed by Congress in March 2010 in an attempt to make the law work.

Forbes and The Wall Street Journal have reported that the majority of those registering for health care under the law had insurance and were seeking a lower premium through federal subsidies.  Others have reported much higher premiums with Obamacare than their previous plans.

A provision of Obamacare appears to provide for hypothetical insurance company losses through a taxpayer-funded “bailout.”  Some insurance companies partnered with the Obama regime in apparent favor of single-payer coverage, which Obama had stated was his goal in 2008.

Tens of millions of Americans are predicted to lose their employer-based plans this year as a result of Obamacare.  Obama maintains that the law “is working.”