Jun 23 2014
States seek to recoup funds from technology companies that were involved in creating the online insurance portals that malfunctioned. Meanwhile, Massachusetts reaches a deal on payment while Maryland considers moving to the federal marketplace.
The Wall Street Journal: States, Firms Spar Over Insurance-Exchange Funds
States and technology companies, including Xerox Corp. and Oracle Corp., are locked in disputes over more than $100 million allocated for Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges that had troubled rollouts. Oregon, Maryland, Massachusetts and Nevada are seeking to recoup funds or withhold money for work they say wasn't properly done. Poorly functioning exchanges in those states hampered enrollment last fall, and states blame contractors (Armour, 6/20).
The Boston Globe: Deal Reached On Botched Mass. Health Site
Massachusetts agreed Friday to pay $35 million to the Canadian technology developer that created the botched health insurance website, which the state abandoned last month. Counting $17 million already paid last year to the company, CGI, the state's bill will total $52 million for a site that malfunctioned from the start when it launched last October. State officials said the deal will ensure an orderly end to CGI's work for the state, avoid litigation, and pay for the company's assistance in recent months and its contributions to a replacement website (Freyer, 6/20).
The Baltimore Sun: Weighing Maryland's Switch To Connecticut Vs. Federal Health Exchange
Since Maryland health exchange officials decided to replace their troubled website with technology used in Connecticut, critics have asked whether it would be cheaper and less risky to join the federal website. Exchange officials said the federal option could be a good deal for some states. But Maryland's antiquated Medicaid system couldn't hook up to the federal site, and building a separate system would be costly, they said (Cohn, 6/21).
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 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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