Vermont officials are cautiously optimistic that the state's health insurance exchange will meet next week's deadline for smooth operations.
When Vermont Health Connect launched two years ago it encountered numerous technical, security and operational problems. The state eventually fired its original IT provider CGI and hired Optum to revamp the system.
As of June, the exchange had a backlog of more than 10,000 people trying to make changes in their coverage. Commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access Steven Costantino says they are on track to clear the backlog and he is cautiously optimistic the exchange will meet its next deadline. “When you’re doing this kind of transformation there’s possibilities of glitches and tweaks and issues that happen. It’s almost like you get updates to your phones and your computers and when you do that update sometimes there’s something that happens even though the update was supposed to fix something. And then another update occurs to fix the fix. In a way it’s like that but it’s almost like on steroids because it’s such a big project. We’re cautiously optimistic. We’re meeting our milestones. But we also know the reality of this type of transformation and what can happen.”
Critics of Vermont’s exchange remain unconvinced there will be smooth sailing in the near future. Vermonters for Health Care Freedom President Darcie Johnston says it will depend on consumer interaction. “We haven’t seen any live demo, any examples of how the system has been improved. So it’s the big unknown. They claim it will be. They claim lots of things. I think the reality is that the expectation for what was originally this website’s bells and whistles is far off from what it originally was and so it depends what your definition of smooth and success is. Because we certainly missed that mark a long time ago.”
Reached Wednesday, House Minority and Republican caucus leader Don Turner was enroute to New Hampshire to learn more about its use of the federal exchange. He would be pleasantly surprised if the Vermont exchange meets upcoming deadlines. “These people have mismanaged this since day one under the Shumlin administration and I can’t believe that with all the problems that they had that we’re going to fully meet the goals that were laid out. So I will be pleasantly surprised if that is true. But I have a hard time believing that at this point.”
Meanwhile, the federal Government Accountability Office last week issued a report on state health insurance marketplaces. It gave Vermont the highest grades in three of four categories among states operating exchanges. Turner doubts any state has adequately managed an exchange. “I have been an advocate to move to the federal exchange, which we have seen is far less expensive than these state run exchanges. I am very concerned moving forward that Vermont can sustain the cost of this exchange. And are we going to be able to provide to Vermonters the best product for a reasonable price if it costs so much to run these exchanges? None of these state exchanges have been very good and because we’re maybe one of the top doesn’t mean that it’s great for Vermonters moving forward.”
Commissioner Costantino notes that the GAO report points out that all states had challenges with the exchanges, but Vermont took into account the lessons learned. “The goal is to get our individuals enrolled in a health plan in a customer service kind of environment. When there are tweaks or something in the system isn’t working, you’re still working hard to make sure that integration takes place.”
Health exchange staff will continue to test the system prior to the October 1st deadline.
