(Bloomberg) – Massachusetts may still try to revamp its own Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) exchange enrollment site, but it could switch to using HealthCare.gov.
HealthCare.gov is the system the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) set up to handle enrollment for HHS-run exchanges.
Massachusetts – the first state to set up a statewide public health insurance exchange program – has had serious problems with trying to adapt the Connector — its exchange enrollment system — to meet PPACA requirements.
The state will make a final decision this summer about going with a homegrown site based on off-the-shelf technology or using HealthCare.gov, Sarah Iselin said in a telephone interview.
Iselin oversees the Massachusetts exchange for Gov. Deval Patrick, D.
Oregon and Maryland have already decided to drop their state-based exchange enrollment systems and use HealthCare.gov, and officials in Hawaii and Nevada are considering making the same switch.
If the Massachusetts exchange uses HealthCare.gov in 2015, that would be "a one-open-enrollment-period solution only," Iselin said.
The federal government gave Massachusetts $180 million in grants to upgrade the Connector, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
