Only 574 Hawaiians have signed up for Obamacare – at a cost to the federal government of roughly $348,000 apiece.
And the Hawaii Reporter quotes sources familiar with the exchange’s website saying that enrollment figure is an overstatement, because the site doesn’t always properly transfer information to insurers. Insurers thus haven’t processed all the enrollments, and applications can be submitted multiple times.
The Hawaii state government paid CGI Federal — the same contractor that built the disastrous HealthCare.gov — $53 million to build the website, which didn’t launch till October 15. The federal government gave the state $200 million in total to set up the exchange, including money to be spent on marketing and outreach.
Current sign-ups more than double the 257 who had enrolled by November 15, but there’s a long way to go: The state has 100,000 uninsured residents – and 30,000 people are losing their insurance because their policies do not meet Obamacare’s minimum coverage standards. The state’s insurance commissioner, Gordon Ito, has asked companies to preserve the plans, but the companies are not legally required to do so.