Zip Code Glitch Affects Health Care Consumers in all 14 States with Exchanges
Contact: Jim Pettit
@jamesmpettit
The David Craig campaign addressed two issues today regarding the federal health care exchange which has become part of the debate over how to solve problems with Maryland’s troubled state exchange.
The first issue stems from yesterday’s announcement in which the campaign discovered a software glitch that directs people seeking in-person assistance with Obamacare to surrounding states instead of to organizations near where they live. Originally assumed to be a problem isolated to Maryland, the “local help” feature on the federal government’s healthcare.gov site is directing people in 14 states which operate their own exchange to other states. It appears the software is not coded correctly and nobody thought to integrate federal and state information, so the website is incorrectly defaulting to send consumers to other states that opted to use the federal exchange. The misleading data in Baltimore, for example, would cause people to believe they must drive to Virginia or Pennsylvania to seek the assistance of so-called navigators. Even more logistically challenging, people in Denver, Colorado are shown listings of navigator resources in Kansas and Wyoming.
“If misleading data is produced on the front end, then I shudder to think what this thing looks like on the back end,“ said Maryland candidate for Governor and Harford County Executive Craig, referring to the federal exchange.
The issue takes on greater importance as U.S. Rep. John Delaney (MD 06) recently called on the O’Malley –Brown Administration to consider eliminating the under-performing Maryland state exchange and divert consumers to the federal exchange. Gov. Martin O’Malley and healthcare point man and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown have not ruled out migrating to the federal exchange. They are submitting emergency legislation to deal with thousands of people who believe they properly enrolled for insurance, but may not have actual coverage due to data transfer problems between the state exchange and insurance carriers.
The second issue is that the federal exchange, like Maryland, is experiencing back-end enrollment problems, and the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services does not disclose the number of people who paid their first month’s premium and received a health insurance card. This could mean that Marylanders will again experience the same problem of thinking they have insurance when they do not.
In remarks similar to those he made to the Daily Record newspaper in Baltimore yesterday, Craig said, “Nobody can be confident in critical back-end procedures with the federal health care site until the federal government discloses how many people actually get insurance. The Congressman’s proposal only kicks problems up to the federal government, increases the mass confusion already surrounding Obamacare and empowers bureaucracy, not consumers.”
Craig has previously called on the Administration to re-allocate up to $150 million in taxpayer funds for the marketing and outreach of Maryland Health Connection and instead launch a public awareness campaign letting consumers know they can sign up for coverage directly through insurance carriers or brokers.
On the matter of the software glitch on the federal site, the Craig campaign entered zip codes for the largest cities in the 14 states running their own exchanges. Entering a place name, i.e. “Baltimore,” directs a person to the state exchange. Yet, when a Baltimore zip code is entered the search results lists only out-of-state organizations. Actually, a non-profit organization serves Baltimore with health care navigators, and if the site worked similar to a basic web-based store finder application the listing would appear however search terms are entered.
In some states, listings show no search results. In most large cities, however, ranging from Boston to Las Vegas, users are directed across state lines. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius promoted the “local help” feature to Marylanders seeking “in-person assistance” in a Baltimore Sun op ed January 1, and identical versions ran in other newspapers across the country.
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The David Craig campaign addressed two issues today regarding the federal health care exchange which has become part of the debate over how to solve problems with Maryland’s troubled state exchange.
The first issue stems from yesterday’s announcement in which the campaign discovered a software glitch that directs people seeking in-person assistance with Obamacare to surrounding states instead of to organizations near where they live. Originally assumed to be a problem isolated to Maryland, the “local help” feature on the federal government’s healthcare.gov site is directing people in 14 states which operate their own exchange to other states. It appears the software is not coded correctly and nobody thought to integrate federal and state information, so the website is incorrectly defaulting to send consumers to other states that opted to use the federal exchange. The misleading data in Baltimore, for example, would cause people to believe they must drive to Virginia or Pennsylvania to seek the assistance of so-called navigators. Even more logistically challenging, people in Denver, Colorado are shown listings of navigator resources in Kansas and Wyoming.
“If misleading data is produced on the front end, then I shudder to think what this thing looks like on the back end,“ said Maryland candidate for Governor and Harford County Executive Craig, referring to the federal exchange.
The issue takes on greater importance as U.S. Rep. John Delaney (MD 06) recently called on the O’Malley –Brown Administration to consider eliminating the under-performing Maryland state exchange and divert consumers to the federal exchange. Gov. Martin O’Malley and healthcare point man and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown have not ruled out migrating to the federal exchange. They are submitting emergency legislation to deal with thousands of people who believe they properly enrolled for insurance, but may not have actual coverage due to data transfer problems between the state exchange and insurance carriers.
The second issue is that the federal exchange, like Maryland, is experiencing back-end enrollment problems, and the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services does not disclose the number of people who paid their first month’s premium and received a health insurance card. This could mean that Marylanders will again experience the same problem of thinking they have insurance when they do not.
In remarks similar to those he made to the Daily Record newspaper in Baltimore yesterday, Craig said, “Nobody can be confident in critical back-end procedures with the federal health care site until the federal government discloses how many people actually get insurance. The Congressman’s proposal only kicks problems up to the federal government, increases the mass confusion already surrounding Obamacare and empowers bureaucracy, not consumers.”
Craig has previously called on the Administration to re-allocate up to $150 million in taxpayer funds for the marketing and outreach of Maryland Health Connection and instead launch a public awareness campaign letting consumers know they can sign up for coverage directly through insurance carriers or brokers.
On the matter of the software glitch on the federal site, the Craig campaign entered zip codes for the largest cities in the 14 states running their own exchanges. Entering a place name, i.e. “Baltimore,” directs a person to the state exchange. Yet, when a Baltimore zip code is entered the search results lists only out-of-state organizations. Actually, a non-profit organization serves Baltimore with health care navigators, and if the site worked similar to a basic web-based store finder application the listing would appear however search terms are entered.
In some states, listings show no search results. In most large cities, however, ranging from Boston to Las Vegas, users are directed across state lines. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius promoted the “local help” feature to Marylanders seeking “in-person assistance” in a Baltimore Sun op ed January 1, and identical versions ran in other newspapers across the country.
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Background: yesterday's release:
Craig calls on Sebelius, O’Malley and Brown to Work Together to Fix Zip Code Bug
http://davidcraigpressroom.pr.
Craig calls on Sebelius, O’Malley and Brown to Work Together to Fix Zip Code Bug
http://davidcraigpressroom.pr.
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