The Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare

The goal was admirable, but like much of what our government tells us, it is not as advertised. I have no intention of getting into the specifics of whose fault this mess is, or all of the half-truths and misrepresentations that were used to get this law passed. The talking heads have been pointing fingers and placing blame ad nauseum for months. What I would like to share is my experience with trying to abide by this new law.

Like many of you, I found trying to access the website in the early days impossible. I tried several times in the first few weeks, but the site just did not work. It was a never ending loop back to where you started because the site kept crashing. From the news reports it was clear that the site was not ready and never should have been launched.

After it was announced that the site was repaired, I tried several times to get through the first step; registration. After several attempts it became obvious that the government’s definition of repaired must be different from mine. Same loop as before, but they had added error messages. I assume the repair crew must be the same crack staff that designed the site to begin with.

So, with one day left to try and get this done, the wife and out set out to navigate this labyrinth and make one more attempt to comply with the new law. Great news! Things have improved. After only an hour and several website crashes, we succeeded in getting an account set up. Things were looking better! Now it’s time to log in and find out what types of coverage’s are available. After completing the account set up page we were automatically redirected to the log in page. The big moment was here; entered in the login information and clicked login. Oh good, yet another error message. An account that was just created was somehow locked and/or disabled. Two options; live chat or call the 800 number.

I started with the 800 number. No surprise that it is all automated. It first will tell you that they are experiencing a high volume of calls and wait times could be long. To reinforce this it goes on to tell you that if you are on a cell phone, make sure it is fully charged. They should also tell you to pack a sack lunch. I gave up after more than an hour on hold.

I decided to go ahead and waste the rest of my day with trying the live chat option. I actually prefer it as most of the time it is the quickest option on a competently built site. This is much like calling the 800 number. You receive a greeting message telling you they are experiencing a lot of traffic, but someone would be willing to help me shortly. After waiting for someone to chat with for exactly 81 minutes, I again through in the towel and closed the chat window. How did I know I waited 81 minutes? The chat window logs what time you requested help and then sends you a message every 90 to 93 seconds asking you to be patient while they are helping others. I’m assuming the clock is one of the repairs they are so proud of, as it seems to be the only thing on the entire fucking site that works.

According to the HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “We the People” have spent 319 million dollars through the end of October 2013 and are obligated to spend a total of 677 million dollars to build this website. I assume this had to be a no bid contract that apparently required no proof of competency to get. If the company was properly vetted you would think the legacy of poor work would have shown up. Maybe someone should send those in power a link to Angie’s list, or better yet Go Daddy. How about a conversation with a successful web operator like Amazon? I know these are simple suggestions, but I find you get the best information from those who have proven experience, not political connections.

The other question I keep asking myself is this; how can a website that cost so much and works so poorly not have cost someone their job? I can’t think of one private sector job where you could spend 319 million dollars on a project that is a complete and utter failure, and still keep your job. Is no one accountable for what is done with the people’s money?

I’ll close with this; if you are going to force the American people to buy a product they do not want, the least you could do is make the website they have to use work, especially as you have spent millions of “our” dollars to build this site.

In the meantime, I’ll be spending the day on hold, hoping that a Christmas miracle will occur and someone will answer the phone or the live chat.