MD still health secretary ‘disappointed’ at state health exchange site

Joshua Sharfstein is “disappointed” in the work of Noridian Healthcare Solutions LLC, the North Dakota-based contractor hired by the state to build Maryland Health Connection, the state’s health insurance exchange website that launched Oct. 1 with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act.

According to Sharfstein, secretary of Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, “Noridian is not meeting the expectations outlined in its contract with the state,” as the Baltimore Business Journal reports.
Among those expectations: a properly functioning website. Since launching, Maryland Health Connection has encountered a number of issues. From the BBJ:

Maryland Health Connection’s website is certainly not fully functioning. Users are having problems creating accounts, determining their eligibility for federal subsidies and viewing available insurance plans. Insurance carriers have yet to get key information about new members successfully enrolled in health plans through the exchange.

The procurement page on the website of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Maryland, cites Noridian’s contract value at $51,397,160.
As of Oct. 23, the number of Marylanders who had enrolled in health insurance via Maryland Health Connection stood at 3,186. There’s no updated enrollment data for the first week of November. According to a report from the exchange: “Maryland Health Connection is revising its approach to providing numbers of enrolled Marylanders. Future reports will separate individuals versus households, qualified health plans versus Medicaid, and other information.”