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Screenshot of HealthCare.gov  Healthcare.gov as it appeared on January 5, 2016 | |
Type of site | Health insurance marketplace |
|---|---|
| Available in | English Spanish |
| Owner | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
| URL | healthcare.gov (English) cuidadodesalud.gov (Spanish) |
| Launched | October 1, 2013 |
| Current status | Active |
HealthCare.gov is a health insurance exchange website operated by the United States federal government under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), informally referred to as "Obamacare", which currently serves the residents of the U.S. states which have opted not to create their own state exchanges.[1][better source needed] The exchange facilitates the sale of private health insurance plans to residents of the United States[2] and offers subsidies to those who earn between one and four times the federal poverty line, but not to those earning less than the federal poverty line.[3] The website also assists those persons who are eligible to sign up for Medicaid, and has a separate marketplace for small businesses.
On October 1, 2013, HealthCare.gov was rolled out as planned, despite the concurrent partial government shutdown. The launch was marred by serious technological problems, making it difficult for the public to sign up for health insurance.[4] The deadline to sign up for coverage that would begin January 1, 2014, was December 23, 2013, by which time the problems had largely been fixed. The open enrollment period for 2016 coverage ran from November 1, 2015, to January 31, 2016.[5] State exchanges also have had the same deadlines; their performance has been varied.[6][7][8]
The design of the website was overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and built by a number of federal contractors, most prominently CGI Group of Canada. The original budget for CGI was $93.7 million, but this grew to $292 million prior to launch of the website. While estimates that the overall cost for building the website had reached over $500 million prior to launch[1][9][10][11][12] and in early 2014 HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said there would be "approximately $834 million on Marketplace-related IT contracts and interagency agreements,"[13] the Office of Inspector General released a report in August 2014 finding that the total cost of the HealthCare.gov website had reached $1.7 billion[14] and a month later, including costs beyond "computer systems," Bloomberg News estimated it at $2.1 billion.[15] On July 30, 2014, the Government Accountability Office released a non-partisan study that concluded the administration did not provide "effective planning or oversight practices" in developing the HealthCare.gov website.[16]
- ^ a b David Perera (16 October 2013). "HealthCare.gov problems spark federal IT recriminations". Fierce Government IT. Archived from the original on 2013-10-23. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
bw-opensourcewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Explaining Health Care Reform: Questions About Health Insurance Subsidies, KFF, November 20th, 2018
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Important Marketplace Deadlines - 2016 Open Enrollment dates". Healthcare.gov. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
- ^ Kevin Bohn; Gregory Wallace (October 28, 2013). "Obamacare malfunction shuts down application tool". CNN.com. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
- ^ "Massachusetts to sever relationship with Health Insurance Exchange technology vendor CGI". Masslive.com. 17 March 2014.
- ^ "Cover Oregon: Feds blast state health insurance exchange and lead contractor, Oracle". OregonLive.com. 13 March 2014.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
reuterswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ We paid over $500 million for the Obamacare sites and all we got was this lousy 404 by Andrew Couts, Digital Trends, October 8, 2013
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
vergewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "HealthCare.gov's head tech guy is out". The Washington Post. 6 November 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
- ^ Kessler, Glenn (16 September 2019). "Eric Trump's Four-Pinocchio claim that the Obamacare website cost more than Trump's border barrier". Washington Post. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
oigwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Wayne, Alex (24 September 2014). "Obamacare Website Costs Exceed $2 Billion, Study Finds". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
- ^ Alonso-Zaldivar, Ricardo (July 31, 2014). "Probe exposes flaws behind HealthCare.gov rollout". AP News. Retrieved July 31, 2014.