In testimony before the House Energy & Commerce Committee this morning, contractors responsible for the Obamacare website buildout were defensive, evasive, and generally passed the buck rather than take responsibility for the abysmal website they created. In fairness there probably is plenty of blame to go around, most of which should be placed squarely in the lap of the folks who set the parameters of the project. After all, the contractors just build what they’re told to build.
One enlightening quote from a Fox News article on the hearing came from Andy Slavitt whose firm handled some of the design:
[Slavitt] also blamed in part a “late decision” to require customers to register before browsing for insurance, which could have helped overwhelm the registration system.
“This may have driven higher simultaneous usage of the registration system that wouldn’t have otherwise occurred if consumers could window-shop anonymously,” he said.
His point is well taken and he is probably correct. But for the Department of Health and Human Services (the federal agency responsible for Obamacare implementation) that’s a feature not a bug. The cost of premiums, deductibles, and copays is far more than what people expect. HHS wants to delay as long as possible the sticker shock people will go through when they find out what they are going to have to pay to be insured under Obamacare. If people could window shop anonymously and see right away what the costs would be, fewer people would bother to register and apply for coverage. In particular, fewer of the young and healthy people who will bear the greatest cost of the program while using the fewest services – the people who don’t have comprehensive health insurance because they don’t need it.
Unfortunately for HHS, the sticker shock can be delayed but not forever. Eventually the young and healthy will get through the system, experience their sticker shock, and decline to be fleeced of their hard earned money to subsidize the sick and elderly. There will not be enough young and healthy payers-but-not-users to support the massive number of users-but-not-payers that will flood the system. And that will trigger the Obamacare death spiral that will be catastrophic for all Americans who count on individual health insurance.
Exit question: How long before legislators who supported the law will call for its repeal?