Covered California - Shining Example of How Government Managed Health Insurance Really Works

Investore Business Daily

 

Back in 2013, ObamaCare supporters couldn't talk enough about how California was a showcase for how the law would succeed. Isn't it funny that nobody is making such claims any more?

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote a few months into ObamaCare's first open enrollment period that "What we have in California, then, is a proof of concept. Yes, ObamaCare is workable — in fact, done right, it works just fine."

It turns out that California is a proof of concept, but not in the way Krugman thought.

As Californians are discovering to their dismay, their state's ObamaCare program is a nightmare of technological glitches, bureaucratic ineptitude and overpriced plans that under-deliver care.

Despite spending more than $1 billion in federal taxpayer grants to build it, the "Covered California" exchange gets an average one-star rating on the popular review site, Yelp. Customers complain about extreme hold times, wrong information, the inability to cancel or update plans, and so on. Among the comments:

• "I'm all for the ACA but this website is a massive, stinking, pathetic example of governmental incompetence."

• "I can't imagine how many people are going to give up on getting insurance because of how bad this site is. It actually makes me sad.

• "Obama you are alienating those who supported you. Come on I/we deserve better than this."

Meanwhile, a two-part series by former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson for the Daily Signal documents mismanagement, computer glitches, inflated enrollment numbers and attempts to silence whistleblowers. In one case, a family got 18 notices from Covered California in one day, 14 saying they were covered and four saying they weren't.

Such hassles might be tolerable if the product Californians are trying to buy is outstanding. But that doesn't seem to be the case, either.

Despite projections that California's enrollment would grow by half a million this year — a 36% boost over last year — signups climbed only about 7,000 — or less than 0.5%. And the retention rate was just 65% of enrollees — far lower than the overall national average.

California isn't the only state with disappointing enrollment figures this year. Overall ACA enrollment is well below government forecasts. So give Krugman credit for being right when he claimed that: "In California we can see what health reform will look like."