Three state insurance exchanges are looking for new executive directors, amid problems with website functionality, modest turnout and contractor skirmishes.
Rocky King, the executive director of Cover Oregon, whose website didn't work for two months after the Oct. 1 launch, is taking a three month medical leave of absence, which he requested at a Dec. 2 board meeting, before a planned evaluation of his performance.
It's not clear whether King, who directed Oregon's pre-existing condition insurance pool for 20 years, plans to return to the position next year. For now, the Oregon Health Authority's director, Bruce Goldberg, MD, will work as acting leader of Cover Oregon, while the board conducts a "swift search for an interim executive director through King's medical leave of absence."
With an enrollment deadline of Dec. 4 for health plans taking effect Jan. 1, Cover Oregon was forced to ask Oregon consumers to apply via paper, as the website, costing an estimated $140 million to date, continues to be remedied by lead contractor Oracle.
"I am confident we are on the right track to get people the health coverage they need," King said in a media statement announcing his leave of absence. As of Dec. 2, two days before the deadline for Jan. 1 coverage, 3,470 Oregonians had successfully enrolled in insurance policies via paper applications.
In Hawaii, where the same contractor leading healthcare.gov, CGI, was hired to build Hawaii Health Connector for $53 million, executive director Coral Andrews resigned as of Dec. 6, after the exchange launched 15 days late and saw fewer than 300 people sign up as of mid-November.
A former Navy Corps Officer and VP of the Hawaii Healthcare Association, Andrews said in a media statement that she felt "honored to have been a part of implementing part of the Affordable Care Act for the people of Hawaii."
Tom Matsuda, a health reform implementation manager in the office of Gov. Neil Abercrombie, is taking over as interim executive director while the board of the independent nonprofit exchange looks for a permanent executive director.
In Maryland, one of most enthusiastic health reform adopters, Maryland Health Connection executive director Rebecca Pearce resigned after two years on the job, a troubled launch and a recent dispute between contractors that has resulted in lawsuits.
Pearce, a former benefits administrator at Kaiser Permanente and product developer at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, is being replaced by interim executive director Carolyn Quattrocki, director of Gov. Martin O'Malley's health reform office.
While Maryland Health Connection was able to enroll almost 4,000 state residents in health plans by the end of the November, the exchange is still a long way from the goal of enrolling 150,000 residents in qualified health plans by March.
The website launched Oct. 1 and then immediately crashed, leaving Pearce trying to do damage control working with lead contractor Noridian Healthcare Solutions, which ended up hiring McKinsey consultants to help save the project, valued at $51 million, amid litigation with a subcontractor.
Noridian, a division of a North Dakota mutual insurer of the same name holding a Blue Cross license, ended up severing a deal with subcontractor EngagePoint, which then filed a lawsuit trying to bar Nordian from hiring its employees to work on the website. A federal judge rejected the lawsuit, and the two companies are set for mediation.
The website is now functioning, recently adding a premium assistance estimator tool, but it still has some of minor bumps and glitches.
"We are working to address technical problems that are causing error messages and delays for some Maryland consumers," Maryland Health Connection staff wrote in their weekly update on Dec. 6.