The health insurance exchanges mandated by Obamacare will likely get off to a rocky start at the beginning of October, a health care consultant told Congress Tuesday morning at a hearing on the law’s implementation.
Additionally, none of the contractors hired by the federal government to develop the exchanges’ new infrastructure told Congress that they have finished their work, even though the exchanges will open in three weeks.
The consultants, contractors, and business representatives testified before the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee for the latest in a series of oversight hearings on the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare.
“Very few states will have a comprehensive working exchange on Oct. 1,” said Brett Graham, a partner with the healthcare consulting group Leavitt Partners. “It is also expected that exchanges will experience a problematic enrollment period as states and the federal government work to overcome both known and unknown challenges.”
Representatives from several contractors that are building key parts of the law’s infrastructure, including the data hub that will transmit information from federal agencies to the exchanges, told the committee that they will be ready for the exchanges to open on Oct. 1. However, they did not testify that they have completed their work now.
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