Insurance agent: Covered CA CEO ‘should immediately resign’

Merry Christmas, everyone!

The California media’s coverage continue to be on the benign side when it comes to our version of Obamacare. The recent revelations of Covered California’s deceit on insurance sign-ups were barely reported, with just a handful of stories. While there have been reports on customers’ “sticker shock,” I haven’t seen many that start from the perspective of private insurers on how the Affordable Care Act is playing out in California.

Here’s one. This statement was emailed to the U-T San Diego by Barry Cogdill of La Mesa:

“I am a licensed insurance agent, and a certified CoveredCA agent. This is not about politics. This is about policy, and implementation. in the end, it is also about righteous indignation in the treatment of citizens of our state.

“The enrollment process through the coveredca.com website has been halting and slow, but usable. Last Thursday, the site was almost inoperable for most of the day. Monday, the last day to enroll for Jan. 1 coverage, the site is completely unusable. After a 12-hour work day, I gave up. My staff and I finished four applications in that time. Over the last five days of enrollment. the site has been of no use 40 percent of the time.

“I have people who desperately need insurance.

“Is the intent of the Affordable Care Act to leave people bare of coverage? I don’t think so. The idea is to get people insured. People are scared, and frustrated, and feel displaced.

“Covered California has a couple of things to do. One, retract the deadline. Two, Peter Lee, the CEO, should immediately resign. This is one of the worst consumer nightmares ever foisted on the American people. CoveredCA owes the residents of our state much more than they are delivering.”

The letter was printed in today’s U-T. It’s pretty powerful stuff.

I know that Obamacare does better in California polls than it does in national polls. But if Cogdill’s experiences are common, that can’t last.