Conn. exchange hires Va. firm to help consumers

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The state's health care exchange is selecting a Virginia company with a troubled history in Connecticut to run a new center to help consumers enroll in a health insurance plan.

The exchange, Access Health CT, announced Monday that MAXIMUS, Inc. has been awarded a three-year contract, starting March 1.

Access Health CT said MAXIMUS was chosen after "a comprehensive and very competitive requests for proposal process" that began October 2012.

In 2010, MAXIMUS and a subcontractor reached a $2.5 million settlement with the state, resolving a dispute over upgrades to a computer system used to access criminal justice records. The state claimed the system had hundreds of defects.

MAXIMUS was also criticized in the late 1990s for how it managed a program reimbursing working welfare parents for child care costs.