Health plan connector site to go live today

The Hawaii Health Connector expects to launch its online marketplace for health insurance policies today, two weeks after failing to meet its original Oct. 1 start date.

Consumers should be able to compare health plan prices and sign up for a policy on the state’s health insurance exchange by late morning today, Connector officials said Monday evening.

“We have worked diligently to improve the functionality of our current website, and the results have thus far have been very positive,” Coral Andrews, executive director of the Connector, said in a statement. “The interim goal we’ve worked toward is October 15th. We feel we are on track to meet that goal.”

The health insurance exchange is a key component of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which requires most citizens to get health coverage next year or face tax penalties.

Computer problems prevented the Hawaii Health Connector from going live Oct. 1. As of last week Hawaii was the only state in the nation that had not made prices and policies available to consumers via an exchange website.

“All I know is their goal is to have plans available for people to see and shop and compare and enroll, and that’s still their plan,” the state’s Affordable Care Act implementation manager, Tom Matsuda, said Monday. “I’m in the same situation as you are. I’m just waiting to see what they have up and running (today).”

In 2011 the Legislature established the nonprofit Connector, which has received $205 million in federal grants, including $53 million to build and operate the website over four years.

The Connector awarded the technology contract to Virginia-based CGI Group Inc., whose affiliate is developing the federal exchanges, which have also been plagued with enrollment glitches for the past two weeks.

Starting today the Connector website, hawaiihealthconnector.com, should make it possible for consumers to compare 95 different health plans, varying in coverage, premiums and out-of-pocket co-payments and deductibles. The plans are offered by the state’s two dominant carriers, the Hawaii Medical Service Association and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, as well as several dental carriers.

The exchange is also where consumers earning up to 400 percent of the Hawaii poverty level ($52,920 for individuals, $108,360 for a family of four) and small businesses can apply for tax credits to reduce the cost of coverage.

Residents have until Dec. 15 to sign up for coverage to begin Jan. 1. Open enrollment runs through March.

The Connector also runs a call center (877-628-5076), but operators at the center have stopped taking applications for health coverage because of privacy issues, call center representatives said Monday.