Troubled ObamaCare vendor awarded new Hawaii contract

Montreal-based CGI Group Inc., the company that received a $74 million contract to develop and maintain the Hawaii Health Connector web portal, will be awarded another year-long state maintenance contract despite the ongoing problems with the site.

The money comes from a $204 million federal contract the state received in 2012 to set up the ObamaCare network in the islands.

The CGI-developed website has experienced a number of technical problems and delays since it launched in October 2013. Because of similar problems, the federal government and other states that had contracts with CGI Corp. cut ties with the vendor.

Hawaii Medical Service Association, the state's largest health insurer, recently announced it won't participate in the Connector's Small Business Health Options Program as of January.

The Connector, already under fire for being the most costly exchange in the nation, is left with just one insurance company for local small business owners to select - Kaiser Permanente.

The decision by HMSA came after it spent 8,000 hours dealing with the exchange's technical problems, which drained finances and staffing resources, and information on 133 patient accounts vanished as they were transferred from the connector to HMSA.

HMSA will continue to insure another 5,000 people enrolled through the individual subscriber portion of the Connector.

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