Massachusetts has decided to give up on its current health insurance exchange website, according to a report from The Hill.
State officials have said they plan to replace the flawed exchange site with new, off-the-shelf enrollment software, with HealthCare.gov as a backup option in case the switch to the replacement software takes too long, according to the report. States must let the federal government know by June 1 if they plan to rely on HealthCare.gov during the next Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act enrollment period.
The Massachusetts Health Connector has been plagued by technical issues. As of mid-March, the state was still working on its exchange and had about 84,000 residents on temporary health insurance plans. The state originally used CGI Group as its contractor, the same company that built HealthCare.gov. In March, Massachusetts was reportedly working to cut ties with CGI, which the federal government has already replaced CGI with Accenture.
Massachusetts is the second state to abandon the exchange site it used for the 2014 open enrollment period because of technical issues. In late April, the board overseeing Oregon's health insurance exchange voted to abandon the glitch-ridden Cover Oregon site in favor of relying on HealthCare.gov. Other states including Maryland, Nevada and Hawaii have also had trouble with their exchanges.
Still, most state-based health insurance exchanges have been successful, with several (Vermont, Connecticut and the District of Columbia) exceeding projected 2014 enrollment by March 1, according to a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.
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