The Healthcare.gov website is horrible!

Guys, I'm a liberal Democrat (okay, not "bleeding heart" according to that skewed Esquire quiz), but I'm all for the ACA, warts and all. I support movement in this direction, and I'm going to choose one of the individual plans myself.

Right now, I'm self-employed with freelance work on a single Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan. That plan is going to expire in mid-December because of the ACA. So I need to enroll in another healthcare plan.

I was excited because I stand to save money. I currently have a PPO health & dental through Blue Cross. It's not cheap, deductibles are high, and so are copays.

I've been trying now for over a week to access the healthcare.gov website, fill out the application, and see what options I have in the "Marketplace." This has been a godawful nightmare. For five days, I couldn't even get on the site past the first page, telling me to be patient and wait. Apparently 20 minutes "waiting" for a new page to launch isn't long enough in their eyes.

Finally, two days ago, I got in. I was so excited! It was finally my turn in line.

So I filled out the application. Some of the questions were vague, the results (moving you to the next question, depending on how you answered the previous one) were misleading or incorrect. And some buttons just plain didn't work. When I got to the end yesterday, it told me to verify the info. When I went in to adjust an answer, it then told me my SS# couldn't be verified ... even though it already had been. Then I got stuck once again.

I tried a live chat. Nice people. Not helpful at all. Their answer was that "due to heavy volume" there were many glitches going on, and i should try back during non-peak hours and days. So here I am, early on a Saturday morning, trying again.

Good news! It verified my SS# (the same one it couldn't verify before), and my application was complete. Then it said "click here to view your results." And the button wouldn't work. I can't view my results, and I can't see what healthcare plans and options I might be eligible for.

So I called their Customer Service number. Good news! I got through right away with minimal waiting. Bad news? She looked everything up and said, "your results aren't ready yet. There may be additional information they need from you."

Then why did it tell me my application was complete and my results were ready to view "click here?"

She couldn't answer that one. She told me to wait a few days, and try again. Hopefully my results will be in. If not, I should call them back.

This is so completely wrong. How do they expect anybody to actually sign up for the insurance? You can't even complete the form(s) online, and nobody can help you do it.

Kathleen Sebelius is going to lose her job over this, and I"m all for it. They've had years to develop a working site. They contracted the wrong website developer who didn't know how to build the site. The scripting errors are abundant. The prompt questions are vague and misleading, and the results are inaccurate.

It's an embarrassment.

I hope they get their act together quickly. They need to start firing people today, right now. This is a major screw-up.

I stil want to apply, and I still need coverage, and I still support the ACA. But nobody should have to go through this many glaring mistakes and inept fumbles to get it.

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I too have had such issues. Actually, I got as far as making an account and that was it. As soon as I did that and tried to login, it told me my info was not correct. Funny because I had just created it 5 minutes earlier.

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Actually, they did not have that long to develop the site. The law passed in 2010, then they had to go through the bidding process, then they had to write the specs, which kept changing on them. The system is highly complex and is integrated with many external systems for income, citizenship, SS verification, etc., plus the numerous insurance companies' sites. So I can see why they would be having all these problems. Supposedly they are working around the clock and making improvements, so maybe we should just give them some time.

Updated On: 10/19/13 at 10:45 AM

Sue, shut up, it's never been your complaint. Probably because you are a manufactured puppet of a fourth rate failed play write. If this is an example of the characters you create you probably ought to try a spec script for Glee- that is the only place this kind of slipshod characterization is welcome.

But- that is Illinois and we have been preparing for this (and cooperating with the feds) for quite some time.

AS I understand it "healthcare.gov" is a national site and when you create your account it sends you to the correct state site (in my case Illinis) as each state has to handle insurance regulation in your own state. I know that some states are doing all they can to cooperate (Illinois) and some are doing all they can to create just this sort of trouble.

I am biased but I found the process extremely easy- no harder than filling our insurance forms at a new job, for example and it looks to save me several hundred dollars a month.

Erin Burnett on cnn did a whole thing on her show last night about how ill equipt the webside is and how the company that is run ning it was not properly vetted despite the 100s of million $ contract and the administration is tryijg to play it down. She called it a major embarrassment.

Oh most importsnt she's on Cnn not fox. I know that's important to some out there.

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Updated On: 10/19/13 at 01:21 PM

Actually, CGI Federal is an American subsidiary of the CGI and their headquarters are in Virginia where most of the work was done.

What I found interesting is that in the article it says that the coding did not even start until the end of 2011. That's not nearly enough time to complete and test such complex system.


Meet CGI Federal, the company behind the botched launch of HealthCare.gov

Updated On: 10/19/13 at 05:38 PM

They cannot blame this one on the GOP

They had years to get ready for this and they dropped the ball pure and simple. Wolf Blizter even said it should be delayed . The company that did the website did so on a no bid contract. IT experts say it has many design flaws.

Why the GOP fought to delay this escapes me. Let this puppy play out and let the American people see this with all its problems. Pelosi said to see what was in the ACA bill you had to vote for it. Maybe they should have looked at it instead of jamming it down the throat of the people

Part of the funding for this comes from a big slash in Medicare. Imagine a Republican trying to take one cent from Medicare. Doctors have said they will retire rather than take reduced reimbursement while having their patient load dramatically increase.

Strangely missing from the bill is tort reform to cut down on lawsuit happy Americans suing insurance companies (which drives up healthcare costs). Since the dems are in the pocket of trial lawyers it is not a surprise.

The midterm elections and 2016 may be a surprise for the dems as unions are not to happy with the effect the ACA will have on its members.

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Updated On: 10/19/13 at 08:09 PM

There is no need to spin this politically, but since you went there, here goes ...

The ACA should not be delayed. The website should not be delayed. That is not the answer. Waiting until it's perfect is unrealistic.

The ACA is LONG overdue in this country. We are an embarrassment in this world for our dysfunctional, corrupt heath care system. And the fact that the ACA website a mess is NO excuse to put this off any longer than it's already been put off. The only thing worse than the ACA website is the abhorrent Tea Party members in congress who can't do anything but sabotage something that has already passed as a law.

They cost this country $28 billion! They're a bunch of idiots, and they should all be voted out of office in the next election.

But there is a definite need to get the ACA website right and functioning. And they need to get people in place right away who can do the job.

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My wife had no trouble getting through to the Ca. state site. The problem she had was with the increased cost. The monthly premiums were substantially higher but more importantly the out of pocket costs were totally outrageous.

It will vary greatly from state to state. But, Best12, you might want to be sitting down when you do get through.

Tennessee, also a GOP governed state, has to sign-up through the main website. Each state, regardless of political leadership, should have their own site.

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Many of us wish there was far less Republican input in the law, and had a Single Payer or Medicare for all system.