The Obama administration is struggling to transfer thousands of HealthCare.gov enrollees to a new state-run exchange, Idaho officials announced Thursday.
Idaho officials opted to use HealthCare.gov for the first year of Obamacare enrollment while building its own state-run exchange for 2015. The state’s operations are on schedule, but the Obama administration has failed to hold up its end of the bargain, according to the exchange.
“When Idaho decided we would use HealthCare.gov for the first year of open enrollment, we believed we could easily transfer their accounts into our own system once it was ready,” Jody Olson, a spokesman for the exchange, said in a statement. “Our system is on track to be ready for open enrollment but the federal government continues to drag its feet and we still don’t have the data we were told we would get.”
The exchange’s board of directors has opted not to continue waiting on the federal government to transfer the data for previous customers, and exchange officials are now beginning to set up accounts on its own for all 76,000 Idahoans that signed up for an Obamacare plan on HealthCare.gov during the first enrollment period.
The exchange, Your Health Idaho, will work with the state’s health insurers and insurance agents in order to set up accounts for former HealthCare.gov customers and will contract with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to determine whether customers are eligible for tax credits.
“Our goal is to make the reenrollment process as easy as possible,” Olson said. “Right now, the federal government is not doing its part to make this happen but we have a talented group of Idahoans, in particular our carriers and agents, working around the clock to assist Idahoans in the reenrollment process.”
Your Health Idaho officials say the exchange is on schedule to open for business when the next open enrollment period begins on November 15.
Idaho is the only state to launch a new state-based exchange in 2015. New Mexico was slated to build and begin operating its own exchange in 2015 as well, but the exchange’s board decided last month to stay with HealthCare.gov for another year. State officials wanted more time to test the exchange’s technology before launching, according to Modern Healthcare.
Oregon and Nevada are both giving up on their state exchanges and shifting to HealthCare.gov in 2015.