Vermont has dropped CGI as the developer for Vermont Healthcare Connect due to the glitch ridden website it provided consumers. The federal government ended its participation with CGI in January 2014 after healthcare.gov was riddled with errors during its initial rollout.
In January, Governor Shumlin (D.) appointed Chief of Healthcare Reform Lawrence Miller to help rid the healthcare exchange of problems. Miller said that CGI missed deadlines, but also said blame should be placed on the federal government for their unreasonable expectations. "This is an unworkable timeframe with the scope that was laid out," Miller said.
CGI will be replaced by Optum, which has already been able to assist customers with the most recent error- those who cannot use the "Change of Circumstances" function when "they get married or have a baby outside of the enrollment period." Still though, the glitches persist.
Approximately 8800 people remain stuck in the backlog, though that number was previously 14,800.
CGI and Vermont settled on a contract for $83 million. The state has paid CGI $57 million so far and is slated to pay the company an additional $9.7 million by September, when Optum will have fully transitioned to be the new website vendor.
HealthConnect officials are still unsure how much they will pay Optum, but estimate that it will likely be more than the $83 million they paid CGI. The transition is estimated to take 60 days.
Several lawmakers are voicing their concern over the glitch-ridden exchange and asking the state that customers be allowed to enroll directly through insurance companies.
"We’ve done it for the businesses, and it’s working for the businesses. To not let these people go through their insurance companies, to force them into the exchange, is unconscionable," State Rep. Patti Komline (R., Dorset) said.