A couple of weeks back, I wrote about how our exchange here in Colorado performed about as well as our basketball team usually does: far below expectations.
The only difference is that the people over at the Pepsi Center (where the Nuggets try to keep up with the rest of the NBA) had enough sense to can their head coach last year. But Connect for Colorado CEO and executive director Patty Fontneau – after failing to get anywhere near her goals – had the nerve to not only ask for a raise, but for her annual bonus, as well. (As if anyone gets those anymore…)
Well, nevermind. Fortneau apparently had a change of heart and late last week released a statement bemoaning the "distraction" of her request. The Denver Post first reported the takeback.
Recommended For You
Fortneau's statement read, in part, "To a person, my staff and team of contractors have worked tirelessly to launch and improve our health insurance marketplace and I am proud of their accomplishments, especially amid many external challenges. While we have much more work to do to improve our operations, we are encouraged to see that enrollments are hitting record levels. We have asked the Board to table any discussions about compensation for management, so that we can focus on enrollments during this critical time."
It's a good call. Granted, things aren't as bad here as they are in, say, Hawaii or Maryland, who've already had exchange chiefs walk. Or even in Oregon, where the exchange boss was apparently so stressed out he needed a few months of medical leave.
But it won't stop state legislators from even making that an option going forward, with at least one Republican promising to draft a bill to prohibit end-of-year bonuses for the states exchange boss.
The rest of the news coming out of Colorado is decidedly mixed. Exchange officials are reporting a big bump in enrollments – up to as many as 1,000 a day now. But, of course, that means wait times have ballooned to nearly half an hour for callers to the state's hotline. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but the clock is ticking, and the Dec. 23 deadline for Jan. 1 coverage will be here soon.
Apparently, though, Fortneau's on the case, as well, extending hours to Sunday for the rest of the enrollment period.
In short, I guess I'm saying that most of these stories don't turn out this well. Too many times, we read of government corruption, political pocket lining and back room deals that screw us regular workin' folk. In this case, I think we honestly had a simple case of a tone deaf administrator, not a political villain running off with the petty cash box.
Now if only they started offering medical marijuana vouchers with every new enrollment…
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
