Even NYT Concedes ObamaCare Web Site Isn't Really Fixed

Carol Platt Liebau | December 02, 2013 8:52 AM

Not a pretty day to be a Democrat. Their top talking point tip sheet, otherwise known as the New York TImes, has some harsh truths about the purported "fix" of the ObamaCare web site:

The problem is that so-called back end systems, which are supposed to deliver consumer information to insurers, still have not been fixed. And with coverage for many people scheduled to begin in just 30 days, insurers are worried the repairs may not be completed in time.

“Until the enrollment process is working from end to end, many consumers will not be able to enroll in coverage,” said Karen M. Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group.

The issues are vexing and complex. Some insurers say they have been deluged with phone calls from people who believe they have signed up for a particular health plan, only to find that the company has no record of the enrollment. Others say information they received about new enrollees was inaccurate or incomplete, so they had to track down additional data — a laborious task that would not be feasible if data is missing for tens of thousands of consumers.

In still other cases, insurers said, they have not been told how much of a customer’s premium will be subsidized by the government, so they do not know how much to charge the policyholder.

Perhaps there's a lesson in here for the health insurance companies who got into bed with the administration, lured by a whole host of very profitable insurance-company-friendly provisions in ObamaCare. Live by the government sword (and a bunch of new consumers forced to buy your product), live under the government Sword of Damocles (worrying constantly about whether government is competent enough to deliver the benefits it promised). Perhaps now the insurance companies realize it would have been smarter not to sit back and wait for the money to roll in, under ObamaCare's heavy hand.