Obamacare transition hits snags

The state hit a bump in the road Sunday and Monday as it began to shift Obamacare enrollments to the federal government’s health insurance marketplace.

“We’re having big problems getting people who don’t have good language skills enrolled. What was a 20-minute process on our exchange normally, now it’s like hours,” said Jeff Kissel, executive director of the Hawaii Health Connector, the state-based health insurance exchange, which is assisting residents signing up for Obamacare coverage. “It’s a nightmare.”

Sunday was the day Obamacare coverage in Hawaii switched to the federal marketplace, healthcare.gov, from the Hawaii Health Connector. Kissel didn’t have enrollment numbers as of Monday afternoon.

All of the roughly 40,000 Hawaii residents who got health insurance through the Connector must re-enroll on healthcare.gov. The Connector policies will not be automatically rolled over to the federal exchange. If a policyholder does not re-enroll, coverage will end Dec. 31.

The 150 local Connector outreach workers were having problems because federal rules don’t allow state-based exchanges transitioning to the federal marketplace to actually do the enrollment for consumers.

“They (Hawaii Obamacare policyholders) have to be enrolled either online or through the federal call center,” Kissel said. “We’re literally sitting right beside them. We’re coaching them because there’s so many cultural as well as language differences.”

Kissel is concerned about getting the word out that all policyholders must re-enroll. The Connector, which spent or contracted roughly $142 million to establish the state-based exchange, has run out of money for marketing.

The federal government earlier this year froze $61.7 million remaining on the Connector’s $204.3 million in federal grant funds.

Federal officials forced the state to pull the plug on the Connector after threatening to withhold $1 billion in matching funds for the Medicaid health insurance program for low-income residents. The feds began pushing the state to healthcare.gov after Hawaii fell out of compliance with the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which required the Connector to be financially self-sufficient and integrated with Medicaid’s online eligibility system to make the enrollment process seamless for consumers.

Kissel is urging residents to reapply now, and asking for their patience as the Connector transitions to the federal marketplace. He is particularly concerned about the new process for about 8,500 Micronesian enrollees.

“The concerns we have are for … primarily (the 8,500) people from the freely associated states of Micronesia who have cultural and language differences and other challenges,” Kissel said.

The 2016 open enrollment closes Jan. 31.