Hawaiians Still Unable To Shop On State Exchange

Hawaii, President Barack Obama’s birthplace,聽has the only聽online health insurance marketplace that聽has not yet launched.

Ten聽days after the 聽was supposed to allow consumers and small employers to shop and enroll for coverage, officials are聽using paper applications and referring people to insurers鈥 websites to check prices.聽 About 100,000 people are uninsured in Hawaii.

It is the only one of the 14 state-run marketplaces, also called exchanges,聽that has no major functions online.聽 聽does not yet聽allow online enrollment, but consumers can shop for health plans on its website.

鈥淭he Hawai’i Health Connector apologizes for any inconvenience the delay in plan presentation has caused consumers who want to shop for health insurance in the online marketplace,鈥 Executive Director Coral Andrews told a state legislative committee on Wednesday.

Andrews said the exchange was working through technical issues. She said she hopes the website will be聽fully functional聽by Oct 15.

Hawaii is one of Group to help build the information infrastructure of the exchanges. , which is handling enrollment for 36 states, has faced numerous problems since its Oct. 1 launch.

CGI was also hired by Colorado, Vermont, Kentucky and California, which each have an exchange that is functioning. The company, based in Fairfax, Va., did not return calls for comment. It 聽to construct the Hawaii exchange.

The聽聽Hawaii exchange has an online 鈥渆ligibility screener鈥 to see if consumers are eligible for Medicaid or a聽government subsidy. But聽聽consumers to fill out if聽they want to learn about their plan options. They may have to wait awhile for information, however.

“The Connector will contact you in the coming weeks after you have completed your application to inform you of your eligibility and plan options,鈥 the website says.

Two health plans are selling products on the exchange — Kaiser Permanente and the Hawaii Medical Service Association, a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan.

One Hawaii lawmaker suggested Wednesday that聽the exchange should inform consumers on its website that it is still 鈥渦nder construction and not fully functional.鈥

Andrews replied: “That is a great suggestion.”

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