For Skip Moskey, and many D.C. residents, signing up for health insurance through DC’s new insurance marketplace has been like “climbing the great wall of China.” But instead of climbing up an ancient wall, DC residents are climbing through miles of red tape.
The Washington Post explained on Wednesday that processing problems on the new marketplace are causing delays to coverage up to three months. With myriad insurers including CareFirst and Kaiser Permanente reporting they have received information with flawed data, or failed to receive applications at all, it appears the problem is occurring at the DC Healthlink.
The DC Healthlink is a government-sponsored marketplace providing mandatory insurance coverage, one of 14 which states have set up after the unsuccessful launch of the national exchange. Yet, it seems the smaller exchange is running into many of the same glitches and processing problems the national exchange encountered last year.
Healthlink is not only costing DC residents time, but also money. The Washington Post reported that those seeking coverage through DC’s marketplace could pay more than twice as much a month than with a previous plan.
This extreme case was true for Skip Moskey who discovered the new policy would cost him $667 a month compared to $330 a month he was paying with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.
When the cost of time and money is substantially larger than the alternative, it is difficult to imagine many would volunteer to attain coverage under the Healthlink. But instead of paying $337 more for the new policy, taxpayers will be paying $1.8 trillion.