Friday, March 29, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, October 8, 2014
The Forgiving Democratic Electorate
By Selected News Articles @ 9:15 PM :: 3614 Views :: Health Care

The Forgiving Democratic Electorate

There’s little consequence for a failed insurance exchange at the ballot box.

by Jim Geraghty, National Review Online, October 8, 2014 (excerpt)

The states with the four worst-performing Obamacare state health-insurance exchanges — Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, and Oregon — all built them with the enthusiastic, loud backing of Democratic governors and state legislatures.

One year later, there is little sign that any of those Democratic governors, or their preferred successors and allies, will suffer at the ballot box for the millions wasted on exchanges that never or rarely functioned. On paper, this shouldn’t be a partisan issue; whether you think the Affordable Care Act is the greatest piece of legislation in a generation or Satan’s handiwork, there shouldn’t be much of a constituency backing massive expenditures for online insurance shopping and purchasing systems that don’t work.

And yet . . .

The Hawaii Health Connector is on its third director in less than a year.

U.S. taxpayers gave the Hawaii state government $204 million to build the Connector system, making it one of the most costly in the nation. It failed to work properly from the beginning, and enrollment fell way below the projections, with just 10,800 people. It was expected to become self-sustaining through user fees by the end of 2014 but earned just $40,350 in its first six months, far below the $320,000 it expected. The state legislature had to step in and provide an additional $1.5 million to keep it running.

The state did add 30,000 people to Medicaid, but 75,000 Hawaiians remain without health insurance. What’s more, those who signed up may find a strikingly limited selection of options.

In August, Hawaii’s largest health insurer announced it was pulling out of the small-business side of the state’s troubled health exchange; this left only one insurance company, Kaiser Permanente, for employers. “Michael Gold, president of Hawaii Medical Services Association (HMSA), told the AP that his staff is spending too much time and money dealing with the Connector’s technical problems.”

Hawaii stands out as a state where the failed exchange may have cost an incumbent governor his job. Governor Neil Abercrombie, whose administration implemented the Hawaiian Health Connector, was defeated in the Democratic primary by state legislator David Ige in August.

Ige called the system “a disaster” in a Democratic-primary debate and pointed out that Abercrombie had appointed four cabinet members to the Health Connector’s board. The governor countered that the Connector was “a creature of the legislature.”

Hawaii may be the state with the best sign of a public backlash against the state government for the embarrassing failures.

The problems of the state’s exchange probably helped Ige in the primary fight, and both the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Duke Aiona, and former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann, the candidate of the Hawaii Independent Party, are campaigning on scrapping the Hawaii Health Connector. Ige is critical of the program, but never quite calls for it to be scrapped entirely.

Polling in Hawaii is infrequent, but it appears Aiona has a shot at winning; the most recent poll put him just 4 percentage points behind Ige. Hannemann is carrying 8 percent....

read ... Forgiving?

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT