This article originally appeared on heartland.org.
I ran across this article on the Vermont Watchdog site, describing the serious problems that still exist with that state's Obamacare exchange. With only six weeks to go until the next open enrollment period and the memory of last fall's disastrous launch, defenders of Obamacare ought to be stocking up on Maalox.
Shumlin???s single-payer health care agenda ???down for maintenance???
By Bruce Parker | Vermont Watchdog
WINOOSKI, Vt. ??? Gov. Peter Shumlin said Tuesday that Vermont Health Connect, the Internet backbone of his Green Mountain Care single-payer scheme, is indefinitely down for maintenance.
At an unscheduled news conference in Winooski that bumped a planned appearance before Vermont???s Affordable Housing Coalition at Baptist Fellowship Church in Randolf, Vt., Shumlin said he ordered the shut down of Vermont Health Connect for security and functionality reasons.
???Bringing down the site now to make improvements with our new partner Optum is the best choice to deliver a well-functioning, secure website for customers by the open enrollment period that begins Nov. 15,??? Shumlin said.
Flanked by interim Secretary of the Agency of Human Services Harry Chen, the governor admitted ???disappointment after disappointment??? with Vermont Health Connect. He said he was ???frustrated that the website remains incomplete.???
While the official line of the administration is that the shutdown is a precautionary maintenance measure to ensure a smooth open enrollment period starting Nov. 15, statements by the governor and state health care officials were laden with not-so-subtle hints about cyber security...
But I'm totally sure they'll do a bang-up job when it comes to directly running the whole health care sector in Vermont, as they plan to do with their single-payer plan.
