WASHINGTON — Racing to meet an October deadline, Obama administration officials said Thursday that they had awarded a contract worth as much as $1.2 billion to a British company to help them sift applications for health insurance and tax credits under the new health care law.
The company, Serco, has extensive experience as a government contractor with the Defense Department and intelligence agencies, and it also manages air traffic control towers in 11 states and reviews visa applications for the State Department. But it has little experience with the Department of Health and Human Services or the insurance marketplaces, known as exchanges, where individuals and small businesses are supposed to be able to shop for insurance.
Serco will help the Obama administration and states determine who is eligible for insurance subsidies, in the form of tax credits, and who might qualify for Medicaid. Tasks include “intake, routing, review and troubleshooting of applications,” according to the contract.
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Several insurance and health policy experts said they were surprised at the selection of Serco because it did not have experience with the exchanges. But that may have helped the company win the contract. In the last six months, federal health officials expressed concern that companies already working with exchanges could have an unfair competitive advantage because they had access to nonpublic information about how the government was setting up its eligibility and enrollment system.
Serco will also help the administration decide who is entitled to exemptions from the tax penalties that can be imposed on people who go without health insurance starting next year. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The Serco Group also operates private prisons in the UK and elsewhere. From Wikipedia:Serco has seen a large amount of criticism involving its private prisons and detention centres. In particular, the Union of Christmas Island Workers has said about the Christmas Island detention centre, which hosts many refugees as well as 1,000 children who have tried to immigrate into Australia, "Serco's failure to perform is huge."[64] Serco has been accused of beating prisoners, not adequately maintaining their physical and mental health, and allowing suicide and self-harm incidents to increase over time. Australian ombudsman Allan Asher said to the Australian radio show AM, "In the first week of June when I visited Christmas Island, more than 30 incidents of self harm by detainees held there were reported."[64] Serco, in a company memo leaked to The Australian, blamed the detainees for "creating a culture of self harm," and using it as a "bargaining tool."[64] Serco has been fined for breaches of contract every month it has managed detention centres in Australia, leading to a total of $4 million in fines in early 2011. Also, Serco's Christmas Island detention center was reported by its own former manager to be "typically 15 staff members short every day."[64]
Working link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serco_Group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serco_Group
