Can this be true?????
Healthcare insurance executives were received at the White House today — but not to confront President Obama about the flub-ridden exchange launched on Oct. 1.
Instead, the CEOs of Aetna, Humana, CareFirst, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Health Net, Inc., Health Care Services Corporation, Independence Blue Cross, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Molina Healthcare, Centene Corp., Tufts Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Wellpoint and Kaiser Permanente got to meet with Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Meanwhile, on the Hill, Pelosi brushed off the tech implosion as something they just have to be able to fix because she doesn’t want to consider extending the individual mandate deadline.
Also in the White House meeting were Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director Marilyn Tavenner, recently added Obamacare adviser Chris Jennings (a lobbyist and former Clinton adviser), and Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.
“The administration is committed to working in partnership with the insurers so we can successfully meet the great demand people have shown for the affordable health care coverage at the heart of the Affordable Care Act,” the White House said of the meeting, which it added focused on “open enrollment and ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act.”
“Specifically, we are collaborating closely with the insurers to address problems we have witnessed in what are called ’834′ forms and in direct enrollment. To that end, we have worked with the insurers and the ‘alpha teams’ we jointly established made up of insurers’ technology experts and CMS technology experts, to iron out kinks in the both the 834 forms and in direct enrollment. These ‘alpha teams’ are working side-by-side to correct challenges as soon as we see them. The teams have been meeting virtually with CMS and CGI and with tech teams associated with operations leaders on the industry,” the readout of the meeting continued.