Healthcare.gov: It’s the Endgame That Counts

Everything has an end.

Masai Saying

All’s well that ends well.

Proverb

Healthcare.gov was relaunched today.   The front-end of the site looks better. It’s faster. Waiting times are less.  Enrolling is easier.  Glitches have been smoothed over.  

But in everything one must consider the end.  It’s the end-to-end final product that will  counts in the end. The front end looks good.  Now is the time to look at the back end, what going on behind the scenes, and to ask these questions.

·         Has the 5% error rate in information transmitted to insurers been corrected?

·         Has the rate of personal identity theft been reduced  to an acceptable or  fail-safe levels?

·         Have the “orphan patient” problem – those patients who think they’ve signed up but the insurance company is unaware of their enrollment – been addressed?

·         Have people learned yet they won’t be able to keep their doctor or hospital, that neither are in the network of their new plan?

·         Do people know yet that the premiums and deductibles quoted to them are subject to change as insurers scramble to meet two week deadlines?

·         Do people realize that employer-based plans may no longer cover family members, or cover them at exorbitant rates?

·         Are people aware that the IRS, operating out of the White House, is responsible for distributing subsidies,  tracking down non-enrollees, and  enforcing rules of the ObamaCare endgame?

Until these questions are answered,  the end game is far from over.  It may just be beginning.

Tweet:   On December 1,   access and efficiency of the healthcare.gov  website have improved,  but questions about its end results remain in doubt.