MNsure picks Deloitte to revamp exchange

Other state developments include the District of Columbia's decision to extend enrollment until April 30, New York's announcement that nearly 1 million residents enrolled in coverage  and a Georgia report that only about half of the 220,000 enrollees in that state have paid their first month's premiums.

Pioneer Press: MNsure Chooses New Vendor To Oversee Website Fixes 
For help figuring out how to fix its troubled website, MNsure is paying $4.95 million to a New York firm that has successfully created health insurance exchanges in four other states. Deloitte LLP designed and developed online insurance marketplaces that are working relatively well in Connecticut, Kentucky, Rhode Island and the state of Washington, state officials said (Snowbeck, 4/16).

Minnesota Public Radio: Deloitte Named To Revamp MNsure Exchange
MNsure's board of directors has hired a new general contractor to revamp its troubled health insurance exchange at a cost of nearly $5 million. Deloitte Consulting, Minnesota's original choice to build MNsure will oversee the $100 million project for the next nine months. MNsure interim CEO Scott Leitz says Deloitte has two key responsibilities: to advise agency leaders on how much of the current system can be salvaged for the future and to make the site operate as well as it can currently (Stawicki, 4/16).

The Associated Press: DC Extends Deadline To Enroll In Health Plans
More than 2,000 District of Columbia residents either enrolled in a health insurance plan or were found to be eligible for Medicaid after the official end of open enrollment on March 31, but a spike in call volume this week led to another extension of the deadline, officials said Wednesday. The district was one of a handful of states that joined President Barack Obama's administration in offering a grace period into April for people who started applications but didn't finish them by the end of March (4/16).

The Associated Press: New York Says 960,000 Enrolled In Health Exchange 
More than 960,000 New Yorkers signed up for health insurance through the state exchange, officials said Wednesday. About 94,000 of those finished applying in the two weeks after the original March 31 deadline, according to figures released by the exchange's executive director, Donna Frescatore. That leaves the program about 140,000 shy of a goal of 1.1 million enrollees by 2016, a sign of the public's "tremendous interest" in it, Frescatore said (4/16).

The Oregonian: Oracle Blasts Oregon For Spreading Cover Oregon 'False Narrative'
Oracle Corp. has accused the state of Oregon of misleading the press and the public with a "false narrative" about who's at fault for the state's health exchange technology disaster. Oracle President Safra Catz said in a letter to Cover Oregon that the state, and not Oracle, deserves blame. The state made the decision to serve as its own systems integrator (Manning, 4/16).

Georgia Health News: Georgia Exchange Applications Hit 220,000
Georgia insurers received more than 220,000 applications for health coverage in the Affordable Care Act's exchange as of the official federal deadline of March 31, state officials said Wednesday. Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens, though, said premiums have been received for only 107,581 of those policies, which cover 149,465 people. "Many Georgians completed the application process by the deadline, but have yet to pay for the coverage," Hudgens said in a statement Wednesday (Miller, 4/16).