It’s only 7 am (and -7 degrees*) here in the Mountain time zone, but we already have today’s winner in the #ObamacareFail sweepstakes. From today’s Wall Street Journal:
States are warning that they may not process Medicaid enrollments from people who have signed up for the health program through the troubled HealthCare.govsite, raising the prospect that several hundred thousand low-income people who thought they had obtained insurance actually may not have it. . .
State officials said that if they were forced to comb through files of potential Medicaid enrollees identified by HealthCare.gov, it would take weeks and divert them from other efforts to implement the law. Even then, they would run the risk of enrolling people who might not be eligible.
Sounds like another spectacular success for our central planners.
Special bonus fail (also in the WSJ): “Drug Cost Surprises Lurk in Health Plan”:
Americans with chronic illnesses—who are expected to be among the biggest beneficiaries of the health law—face widely varying out-of-pocket drug costs that could be obscured on the new insurance exchanges. . .
Without easier access to information, “we’re concerned that people may be attracted to plans with low premiums and not have much drug coverage at all,” said Kimberly Beer, director of advocacy for the Arthritis Foundation, one of many advocacy groups that have been trying to advise patients shopping on the exchanges and having difficulty obtaining drug-cost details.
* Upside of below-zero temperatures here in Boulder: because everyone is turning up their heat to cope, the city will reap higher tax revenues from its special global warming surtax that is on everyone’s utility bill. Climate policy in one city!
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