Columbia firm hired to fix Maryland health exchange website

Saying the launch of Maryland Health Connection has been troubled is putting it mildly.
The state’s health insurance exchange website that launched Oct. 1 with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act has been hobbled by technical difficulties and sluggish and problematic for users. As of the beginning of this month, slightly more than 5,100 people had signed up for private health plans through the exchange, a fraction of the 150,000 people Maryland would like to enroll through Maryland Health Connection by the end of March 2014.
But now the state has enlisted help: Columbia-based Quality Software Services, Inc. (QSSI) “will provide project management and operational support aimed at improving experience for consumers,” reports the Baltimore Business Journal.
QSSI is the same company picked to fix the national HealthCare.gov site. Although the company, which contributed earlier work — and glitches — on the national site, was questioned by congressional representatives in 2012, as the Columbia company is owned by UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurance company in the U.S.