New Health Connector chief prioritizes easier enrollment

The new head of the Hawaii Health Connector, Jeffrey Kissel, said Monday that his first priority will be helping consumers smoothly get through the enrollment period starting Nov. 15.

"The staff here has built a very robust system. I can’t tell you it’s perfect, but it’s a lot more robust than it was," Kissel said at a news conference at the Pacific Club.

"It’s my job as a first priority to be sure that everyone who wants to enroll can enroll. There will always be software issues that need to be resolved in any kind of a system."

On Friday the Connector’s board of directors appointed Kissel, former president and chief executive officer of HawaiiGas, as executive director of the state’s health insurance exchange, Hawaii’s version of Obama­care. He replaces Tom Ma­tsuda, who had been interim executive director for 10 months.

The exchange has been plagued with problems from its inception, enrolling just 10,800 people after a series of computer glitches left consumers frustrated and looking elsewhere for coverage.

"The main challenge is to unite the community in support of the Connector," he added.

The Connector is developing a plan to educate state policymakers on the importance of the exchange and to help consumers realize the advantages of purchasing coverage through the online marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.

He said the Connector is a "critically important piece of infrastructure" for the community and that the state should take advantage of resources to build upon the exchange.

The Connector’s $204.3 million in federal funding runs out at the end of next year, and the nonprofit hasn’t yet lined up a steady source of new revenue to keep operating.

Connector officials have said they need at least $4.7 million per year to operate. The Legislature appropriated $1.5 million for operations in the first half of next year.

"Viability is always an issue with any institution. I dont know of any startup in realistic terms that achieves profitability immediately. We are certainly going to work on the methods to make this self-sustaining in the future," Kissel said.

"The issue really is, Is the community willing to coalesce around this piece of infrastructure and support it? If it is, it will be viable. That’s what I hope to do."