An updated version of this analysis is available at The Federalist.
Oregon has officially pulled the plug on its state Obamacare exchange – the one the Washington Post once indicated was the White House’s favorite. This comes on the heels of Maryland scrapping its entire health exchange – although, oddly, they intend to build a new one based on technology from Connecticut, rather than moving into the federal Healthcare.gov as Oregon is doing.
Some other states are also struggling mightily, and might soon pull the plug as well.
Hawaii’s “Health Connector” has signed up the smallest number of people of any state in the country and has no plans to finance their operations moving forward. Their current plan appears to be to all-but-close-up-shop and outsource all of the exchange functions to the state Department of Human Services.
Massachusetts’s exchange – despite supposedly being the national leader and model – has been a total disaster, and Reuters reports today they may follow Oregon’s lead in shutting down and moving into the federal Healthcare.gov. [UPDATE 5/5/2014: It’s official: Massachusetts is scrapping their exchange.]
And Vermont, the tiny state with giant ambitions to use Obamacare as a stepping stone to single-payer, government-run health care is still facing enormous problems dealing with its tiny population. They are using CGI, the same vendor that failed on the federal healthcare.gov, and have given them a deadline of July 2 to get the site working. It is unclear what Vermont will do if they fail to deliver by that date.
So here’s the billion dollar question – how much of your federal taxpayer money went to these states for their failed and failing Obamacare exchanges?
Here are all the gory details:
Federal Grants for Hawaii’s State Obamacare Exchange
Award Amount
Award Date
State Planning Grant
$1,000,000
9/30/2010
Establishment Grant Level One
$14,440,144
11/29/2011
Establishment Grant Level One
$61,815,492
8/23/2012
Establishment Grant Level Two
$128,086,634
4/8/2013
Total:
$205,342,270
Source: CMS, http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Marketplace-Grants/hi.html
Federal Grants for Maryland’s State Obamacare Exchange
Award Amount
Award Date
State Planning Grant
$999,227
9/30/2010
Early Innovator Grant
$6,227,454
2/16/2011
Establishment Grant Level One
$27,186,749
8/12/2011
Establishment Grant Level Two
$123,048,693
8/23/2012
Establishment Grant Level Two Administrative Supplement
$13,550,988
7/23/2013
Total:
$171,013,111
Source: CMS, http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Marketplace-Grants/md.html
Federal Grants for Massachusetts’s State Obamacare Exchange
Award Amount
Award Date
State Planning Grant
$1,000,000
9/30/2010
Early Innovator Grant*
$35,591,333
2/16/2011
Establishment Grant Level One
$11,644,938
2/22/2012
Early Innovator Grant Supplement
$8,895,029
3/21/2012
Establishment Grant Level One
$41,679,505
9/27/2012
Establishment Grant Level Two
$80,225,650
1/17/2013
Total:
$179,036,455
* “a multi-state consortia proposal led by the University of Massachusetts Medical School and will benefit individuals and small businesses in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont…The proposed project approach will be to create and build a flexible Exchange information technology framework in Massachusetts and share those products with other New England states.”
Source: CMS, http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Marketplace-Grants/ma.html
Federal Grants for Oregon’s State Obamacare Exchange
Award Amount
Award Date
State Planning Grant
$1,000,000
9/30/2010
Early Innovator Grant
$48,096,307
2/16/2011
Establishment Grant Level One
$8,969,600
8/12/2011
Establishment Grant Level One
$6,682,701
5/16/2012
Establishment Grant Level One Administrative Supplement
$2,195,000
9/27/2012
Early Innovator Grant Administrative Supplement
$11,820,905
1/17/2013
Establishment Grant Level Two
$226,442,074
1/17/2013
Total:
$305,206,587
Source: CMS, http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Marketplace-Grants/or.html
Federal Grants for Vermont’s State Obamacare Exchange
Award Amount
Award Date
State Planning Grant
$1,000,000
9/30/2010
Establishment Grant Level One
$18,090,369
11/29/2011
Establishment Grant Level Two
$104,178,965
8/23/2012
Establishment Grant Level One
$2,167,747
1/17/2013
Establishment Grant Level One Administrative Supplement
$4,517,000
1/29/2013
Establishment Grant Level One
$42,687,000
7/9/2013
Total:
$172,641,081
Source: CMS, http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Marketplace-Grants/vt.html