Obamacare getting harder and harder to like

Hawaii folks wanting to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, aka ACA or Obamacare, by the March 31 deadline might’ve been rightfully spooked against signing up online, due to horror stories about computerization snafus. So, going it the old-fashioned way, via pen-and-paper application, would seem a prudent thing.

But, alas, as has grown increasingly evident, nothing with the ACA is simple. The latest glitch is that applicants who want financial assistance must first be deemed ineligible for Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income residents run by the state Department of Human Services. (For paper applications, DHS has up to 45 days to process them.) If done online via DHS’ new automated Medicaid eligibility system, the "much shorter turnaround time" averages about two days.

So now, DHS is asking the state attorney general’s office if applicants delayed by paperwork processing can get a post-March 31 extension. Oh great, now a third governmental agency is involved.