DENVER – Nervous directors of the Colorado Health Benefits Exchange pressed Monday for ways to improve their system to make sure many Coloradans don’t lose their insurance on New Year’s Day.
The Affordable Care Act championed by President Barack Obama was designed to deliver health insurance to most Americans, either through government-run Medicaid or through private insurance sold through an online marketplace.
But only 3,408 Coloradans signed up for private insurance through the state’s website – www.connectforhealthco.com – in its first month, while 34,168 people joined Medicaid.
Meanwhile, insurance companies canceled policies for about 250,000 Coloradans, often because they don’t meet the minimum standards of the Affordable Care act.
Directors of the exchange worried at their board meeting Monday that all those people who lost their policies will bombard the system just ahead of Dec. 15, the deadline to secure coverage that would start Jan. 1.
They admit their application process is clunky, because people who shop on the exchange have to leave the website and apply for Medicaid first. Once they’re denied, they can come back and possibly get a subsidy to buy a private policy through the exchange.
Donna Smith, a cancer patient, is a prime example of the problem.
Smith testified Monday that she is one of the people in Medicaid limbo. She didn’t lose her insurance, but she wants to ditch her $875 a month “lousy Aetna policy” and buy a policy through the exchange.
But her application is hung up while the state determines if she qualifies for Medicaid, even though she’s fairly certain she makes too much money to qualify.
“I’m sitting on Day 36 right now of my application,” she said.
She wants the exchange to work, but she’s nervous about the length of time it’s taking.
“I can’t be without coverage on Jan. 1. This is a very real human issue,” Smith said. “It’s very painful. It’s very stressful, and it needs to be solved.”
But Sue Birch, director of the state’s Medicaid agency, said the backlog is shrinking every day, and 80 percent of applicants get an answer within two days, or often instantly.
Steve ErkenBrack, an exchange director and vice president of Rocky Mountain Health Plans, pressed Birch to move even faster. He’s worried about a rush on Dec. 15 to secure insurance policies.
“(What if) you have 100,000 Coloradans who have four hours to buy coverage, and the system crashes?” ErkenBrack said.
“This is a huge issue.”
In the long run, the Colorado Health Benefits Exchange and the state government are planning to create a single application for both Medicaid and private insurance. But that won’t be in place until next October, when enrollment for 2015 insurance policies begins.
joeh@cortezjournal.com