Joel Ario Talks to Bloomberg About Health Exchange Work-Arounds
"Obamacare Bailout Sought as Effort Planned to Bypass Site"
Bloomberg
November 20, 2013 - Manatt's Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health Solutions, spoke to Bloomberg about states' and insurers' anticipation that the federal online insurance exchange may not be ready by a critical December deadline.
Bloomberg reports that states and insurers are already working to bail out President Obama's healthcare overhaul. Insurance companies are hoping to bypass the buggy exchanges and directly enroll customers, and states may extend special coverage for the chronically ill who are otherwise shut out of the market. The rush to prepare work-arounds is a sign of skepticism that the Obama administration will meet its goal of fixing the site's technical problems by the end of November. If they miss the deadline, millions of Americans may not have health insurance next year.
"You've got a lot of people who have no coverage options right now other than the Affordable Care Act," said Ario. "There are a number of people now who will not have coverage on January 1 if they can't get the websites working."
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