The Washington’s health exchange fell short of reaching enrollment goals by yesterday’s deadline. As Shift reported, Washington Health Benefit Exchange (WHBE) predicted 213,000 total private-plan enrollees—that includes those returning from the last enrollment period. Yesterday, the exchange was still 50,000 people short of its goal. So, today, exchange officials announced it would keep the second enrollment period open for another two months.
WHBE’s decision to extend the enrollment deadline comes after last week’s spat with lawmakers concerning its budget request. According to The Daily News, officials at the WHBE submitted a vague budget request, totaling $125 million, which irritated lawmakers from both parties in both the state Senate and House.
Democrat Rep. Ross Hunter, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, threatened exchange officials wouldn’t “get any more state dollars to spend” if they didn’t tell legislators exactly how they plan to spend the money. Hunter went on to assume the WHBE’s lackluster budget proposal was “more of a learning curve about how much detail the Legislature needs than obfuscation.”
Apparently, the “confusion” comes from the fact that the exchange has relied largely on federal dollars to set up its operation. That’s changing as WHBE’s budget becomes more reliant on a “complicated” combination of state, federal and corporate dollars. Of course, these excuses are ridiculous. Combining state and federal money—especially via federal grants—is a common practice for most major state agencies. Any professional budget writer would be able to develop a proposal that meets expectation regardless of a “complicated” combination of revenue.
Not all lawmakers made excuses for the WHBE’s budget plan. GOP Sen. Randi Becker, a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, has a different outlook on why the exchange opted for vagueness. Becker said, “I would say it’s more that they don’t want to tell us. I don’t think they want to look bad. Every business has ups and downs but you have to get it out on the table so it can get resolved.”
The Daily News points out that another “problem” is the fact that the “exchange budget is dependent on information that won’t be available until after health insurance open enrollment ends.” Considering WHBE officials’ extension announcement today, we can only imagine how much more “complicated” figuring out a budget proposal will become.
What is adds is RED INK from the liberal parasites of the nanny state.
Deadline doesn’t mean “the point where things get extended” it means “the time by which something must be finished or submitted; the latest time for finishing something.” The law is the law, obey it.