Its been a month since Florida's Affordable Care Act health exchange opened for business. So how many uninsured residents has the states largest federal navigator grant recipient enrolled?
They dont know.
At least, thats what a University of South Florida official told Florida Watchdog.
USF received $4.2 million to help uninsured Floridians enroll in the states Obamacare insurance exchange
The USF Navigator program has no enrollment numbers, said Anne DeLotto Baier, public affairs director for USF Health.
Its a response top government health officials have also been saying, raising transparency concerns among lawmakers.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified at a congressional oversight committee Wednesday, saying, We dont have any reliable data around enrollment, which is why we havent given it to date.
Marilyn Tavenner, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told Congress Tuesday, We made the decision that we are not releasing the numbers until mid-November.
Which is also what Baier told Florida Watchdog.
Reports are not expected to be collected from the grants 10 consortium partners across the state until sometime later in November and will be reported to the sponsoring agency, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Baier said.
When asked how the malfunctioning healthcare.gov website was impacting USFs enrollment efforts, Baier said USF navigators are busy helping consumers sign up regardless of technology problems.
While the technology gets worked out, the navigators continue to move ahead in helping consumers sign up, using paper applications and phone options, as well as online, said Baier.
But those paper and phone sign-ups have to be entered into the same glitch-ridden website.
So how many uninsured Floridians has USF enrolled? It seems they dont know, wont say or its just too few for them to acknowledge.
USF received $4,213,696 from HHS. Floridas total navigator award was nearly $7.9 million.
Contact William Patrick at wpatrick@watchdog.org or follow Florida Watchdog on Twitter at @watchdogflan
