“There are dozens of charitable organizations that have hired people on the federal grant,” said Jeff Kissel, the Connector’s executive director. “The impact of the closing of the Connector operations is going to be a lot broader than the 70 people — which includes temporary and full-time staff — that are just working through the office.”
Close to 200 people, including those hired by outreach groups, will be affected as the state’s health insurance exchange shuts down, Kissel said.
Through June 30, the Connector said it has awarded $11.9 million in contracts to 36 marketplace assister organizations for help with outreach and enrollment.
The state is walking away from a $130 million investment in the Hawaii Health Connector and permanently moving technology functions to the federal Obamacare program.
Gov. David Ige’s administration decided earlier this month to abandon the troubled Connector, which has struggled since its launch in October 2013 to meet enrollment targets, provide satisfactory service and raise enough money to be self-sustaining.
The Connector has burned through $130 million of $204 million in federal money granted to the state to build the exchange.
Ige originally thought he could temporarily move Hawaii’s online marketplace to the federal exchange for one year while the state worked on getting the Connector into compliance with the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.
In recent weeks Ige has decided the best path is to permanently move Hawaii to the federal exchange.
The governor acknowledged last month that Hawaii is out of compliance with the ACA and is at risk of losing $1 billion in Medicaid funds if Washington does not accept the state’s plan to remedy the ailing Connector.
©2015 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
