healthcare.gov is an absolute nightmare

[postmortemIA]

They're a pre-approved GWAC.. no bid procurement company


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-behind-the-botched-launch-of-healthcare-gov/

very funny banner on their main page
http://www.cgi.com/sites/default/files/images/banner-federal-1_v2.jpg

 

[LTC8K6]

We actually just switched our coverage in October... lower price for the employees, but better coverage that our previous provider. One of the benefits of not working for a huge corporation, but a small business (we have about 150 employees local).. the owners actually care about the employees.

That.. and they bring in a keg of beer for the office every week.

About 35 employees here. Great owners, great company. Been doing well all through the bad times. Our plans are also cheaper with about the same coverage.

There's no guarantee that these initial conditions will remain, though.

The total uncertainty about so much is worrying.

The numbers of people enrolling in Medicaid is frightening, if accurate.

I can see costs rising rapidly.

 

[Elixer]

If anyone if expecting to get a coverage with healthcare.gov, forget it, don't waste your time. Iceberg, dead ahead.

If you think that is bad... you ain't see nothing yet. PERIOD.

 

[stargazr]

Is it any wonder? The government can't do shit right!

Actually they're pretty good at collecting income tax.

I gave up after trying to sign up several times the first week of October. Obama has not convinced me to try again. I doubt if I'll ever feel the site is relatively secure after reading some of the posts from IT people in these forums.

 

[Jimzz]

Worked for me and everyone I know.

Yea gave me errors when it first came out but tried it recently and went fine.

Speaker Bohemer tried to take a picture/video of him trying but failing but even he was able to sign up.

Still not 100% but at least its usable now.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Anyone surprised that the law forced through Congress, against the will of the people, by politicians who (still!) haven't read the bill, now delivers a broken website and massive increases in health premiums? We haven't gotten to where the doctor shortages will kick in yet.

I'm sure there are a deluded few who are still trying to cope with the fact that this clusterfuck is real. But anyone with a semblance of intelligence already knew that healthcare doesn't grow on trees, and that no amount of wishful, naive idealism by Obama was going to change that.

This guy said it best:

The ACA is proof that there isn't any problem that the government can't make worse.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Yea gave me errors when it first came out but tried it recently and went fine.

Speaker Bohemer tried to take a picture/video of him trying but failing but even he was able to sign up.

Still not 100% but at least its usable now.

When will the "Lower Healthcare Costs" feature be fixed?

 

[Jimzz]

When will the "Lower Healthcare Costs" feature be fixed?

Surprise-Obamacare Now Projected To Cost Hundreds Of Billions Less Than Expected
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...ost-hundreds-of-billions-less-than-projected/

Lower than projected costs under ACA will lead to lower premiums in 2014
http://www.allvoices.com/contribute...ed-under-aca-will-lead-to-lower-2014-premiums


If you and other hacks would read all news not just the nut job sites and BS headlines you may have been able to answer your own question.
Its not perfect buts its no where near as bad as Fox and World Nut Daily type sites make it out to be.

 

[MiniDoom]

they should give out free subscriptions of lifelock for everyone who signs up. security nightmare it is..

 

[BikeJunkie]

Surprise-Obamacare Now Projected To Cost Hundreds Of Billions Less Than Expected
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...ost-hundreds-of-billions-less-than-projected/

Lower than projected costs under ACA will lead to lower premiums in 2014
http://www.allvoices.com/contribute...ed-under-aca-will-lead-to-lower-2014-premiums


If you and other hacks would read all news not just the nut job sites and BS headlines you may have been able to answer your own question.
Its not perfect buts its no where near as bad as Fox and World Nut Daily type sites make it out to be.

It's extraordinarily telling that you've kicked off the ad hominem attacks and relegated me to "hack" status after seeing only two political posts from me, which merely disagree with your own ideals and asks a very legitimate question. That's what's so wrong with our political landscape - it's political "team players" like you who are really only interested in their "team" winning.

Post projections all you want buddy - people are getting fucked TODAY, so how about you try answering for what's actually happening. Side question: did you find yourself in the fetal position on 10/1 chanting to yourself "the website really works, the website really works"?

Did it help?

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Worked for me and everyone I know.

Have you or your friends purchased a policy or did you only get quotes?

 

[boomerang]

I'm truly amazed that despite all the information out there related to the non-existence of any security with the website that people are actually signing up. I know that there is a lot of ignorance in this country but there are evidently a lot of "believers" too.

Identity theft is not a laughing matter.

 

[sportage]

My sis was in the ICU for 5 days, 2 months ago from a stroke-like condition that came on suddenly. But no stroke actually detected. Source still unknown.
Her bill(s) now add up to $150,000 and more doctors bills are still pending.
She lost her healthcare last January when her husband died suddenly of a massive heart attack. Her insurance was thru his employment, which ended almost as suddenly as his life ended.
So she wanted Obamacare, naturally, and Monday was able to finally get a policy online.
She is extremely happy with the ability to once again have insurance.
But, naturally, when it kicks in come Jan 2014, insurance will not cover the previous bills racked up back in October/November 2013.

One of the doctors want her to come back in for a test next week in December, a $10,000 test, to try and determine what happened to her in the first place.
Tests involve one or two MRI's @ $4500 a shot.
She wants to wait until sometime after her ACA policy kicks in come 2014.
The doctor insists she not wait. That is the weird part. His insistence she have this procedure asap, and while uninsured.

And the hospital is wanting her to liquidate any and all assets, which she has few besides basic household goods, to apply towards her bill.
And they threatened to garnish her dead husbands pension she is now collecting, along with her social security. The only income she has.
Between SS and the small pension, she just breaks even with monthly expenses.
Naturally, no one ever expects their spouse to drop dead in their early 60's.
Nor their employer based healthcare benefits to stop as a result.

Why do I bring all this up?
Because for anyone to not have insurance is not an option.
And while she was able to get an affordable policy thru the exchange, that will still not begin until January 2014 and will not cover 2013 health expenses already racked up.

I suppose she could declare bankruptcy for that $150,000+ in hospital bills, but who would want to destroy their credit at this stage when they are going it alone?
So people can pretend having insurance isn't in their best interest. Or that because Obamacare isn't free, that is somehow outrageous.

So what is it?
Do people want to avoid a similar $150,000 hospital bill by finally having access to insurance?
Or do they want to get all bent out of shape that Obamacare isn't free when they probably were against the idea all along from the beginning?
Can't have it both ways.

You can decide for yourself which you prefer between the two, of having a policy or an $150,000 hospital bill?
To help you decide, take a few moments to sit back and ponder your asset liquidation scenario.
See how close you can come to raising $150,000.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Looks like someone has been eating way too much alphabet soup and threw up yet another imaginary tale.

 

[michal1980]

Surprise-Obamacare Now Projected To Cost Hundreds Of Billions Less Than Expected
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...ost-hundreds-of-billions-less-than-projected/

Lower than projected costs under ACA will lead to lower premiums in 2014
http://www.allvoices.com/contribute...ed-under-aca-will-lead-to-lower-2014-premiums


If you and other hacks would read all news not just the nut job sites and BS headlines you may have been able to answer your own question.
Its not perfect buts its no where near as bad as Fox and World Nut Daily type sites make it out to be.

Did you read the articles? I read frobes:

the declining increases in the cost of healthcare is 75 percent the result of economic factors and 25 percent a benefit of the cost cutting measures in the ACA

And what are these costing cutting measures of ACA- Ultra high deductibles

For starters, while many Americans shopping for new health insurance policies may be decrying the higher deductibles they are discovering in the new offerings, higher deductibles should have a meaningful impact on the decisions people make when determining whether or not a visit to the doctor or agreeing to a given procedure is really necessary. While a $250 deductible will likely not cause a patient to ask how much a suggested CT Scan is going to cost, a $3,000-$5,000 deductible is far more likely to cause the patient to ask a few more questions and make more focused decisions when payment for the test is coming out-of-pocket.

So the ACA jacked up for deductible 1200-2000%, and now people are getting less care. Yup that's cost savings. Get less, pay more.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

I had a CT Scan on my chest and a MRI on my shoulder this year and they cost me $96 and $87 respectively. I'm happy the company I work for is self insured and my policy will be the same next year as I couldn't imagine having a $3,000 to $5,000 deductible as mine is $300.

 

[Exterous]

When will the "Lower Healthcare Costs" feature be fixed?

Surprise-Obamacare Now Projected To Cost Hundreds Of Billions Less Than Expected
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...ost-hundreds-of-billions-less-than-projected/

Lower than projected costs under ACA will lead to lower premiums in 2014
http://www.allvoices.com/contribute...ed-under-aca-will-lead-to-lower-2014-premiums


If you and other hacks would read all news not just the nut job sites and BS headlines you may have been able to answer your own question.
Its not perfect buts its no where near as bad as Fox and World Nut Daily type sites make it out to be.

So...uh....did you read the forbes article?

Do we have Obamacare to thank for this highly successful "bending' of the cost curve?

Naturally the answer depends upon who you ask as there simply is not definitive way of knowing - yet.

Most economists believe the lion's share of the reduction is due to the sluggish economy

Well I guess that could apply if you think the ACA is slowing the economy. The Kaiser Foundation cited in the article found that 77% of health care cost decreases are due to the sluggish economy.

I would also point out an error in the Forbes report. They say the Kaiser foundation attributes 25% of the cost cutting to ACA but that is not in fact correct:
First - it would be 23% (I guess the math of 100-77 is too hard to do these days)
Second - Kaiser never attributes a % to ACA. In fact, in their report they use qualifiers like 'could' and 'likely' on almost all parts of the ACA related analysis, likely due to the unclear nature of the effects. At least a portion of the decrease is attributed to being in a period of 'Low Excess Health Spending' which is currently well below the norm. Kaiser never gives a breakdown of how much of the 23% is attributed to what

They also note this:

History suggests that previous efforts to control health care costs have had only a temporary effect, and there are initial signs that the recent slowdown (independent of the effects of the economy) is beginning to wane.

 

[cubby1223]

Surprise-Obamacare Now Projected To Cost Hundreds Of Billions Less Than Expected
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...ost-hundreds-of-billions-less-than-projected/

Lower than projected costs under ACA will lead to lower premiums in 2014
http://www.allvoices.com/contribute...ed-under-aca-will-lead-to-lower-2014-premiums


If you and other hacks would read all news not just the nut job sites and BS headlines you may have been able to answer your own question.
Its not perfect buts its no where near as bad as Fox and World Nut Daily type sites make it out to be.

From your article:

According to a New York Times report out Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office has quietly removed hundreds of billions of dollars from the projected costs of Obamacare, primarily the result of an anticipated decrease in the federal government’s contribution to the Medicaid expansion program along with the projected cost of the subsidy payments to those buying private insurance policies on the healthcare exchanges.

The cost savings is by (1) arbitrarily not funding medicaid (possibly shifting the costs to states?), and (2) not having to pay for subsidies for people signing up for new policies... because the damn website is broken!

I am so impressed!

... get back to me when you can point to Obamacare actually reducing the cost of tests and procedures

Seriously, that second point isn't even cost savings - whether entity A pays for something directly, or entity B pays for something using entity A's money, that's not savings, you hack. Learn to read beyond the headline.

 

[rcpratt]

So the ACA jacked up for deductible 1200-2000%, and now people are getting less care. Yup that's cost savings. Get less, pay more.

If they didn't do that, then people would be complaining even more about medical shortages.

In theory, I have no problem with using higher deductibles in order to encourage consumers to more seriously consider the financial implications of their care. In practice, I'm sure there are a lot more moving variables than that.

On a separate note, I'm glad I have an employer that doesn't hate its employees.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

My sis was in the ICU for 5 days, 2 months ago from a stroke-like condition that came on suddenly. But no stroke actually detected. Source still unknown.
Her bill(s) now add up to $150,000 and more doctors bills are still pending.
She lost her healthcare last January when her husband died suddenly of a massive heart attack. Her insurance was thru his employment, which ended almost as suddenly as his life ended.
So she wanted Obamacare, naturally, and Monday was able to finally get a policy online.
She is extremely happy with the ability to once again have insurance.
But, naturally, when it kicks in come Jan 2014, insurance will not cover the previous bills racked up back in October/November 2013.

One of the doctors want her to come back in for a test next week in December, a $10,000 test, to try and determine what happened to her in the first place.
Tests involve one or two MRI's @ $4500 a shot.
She wants to wait until sometime after her ACA policy kicks in come 2014.
The doctor insists she not wait. That is the weird part. His insistence she have this procedure asap, and while uninsured.

And the hospital is wanting her to liquidate any and all assets, which she has few besides basic household goods, to apply towards her bill.
And they threatened to garnish her dead husbands pension she is now collecting, along with her social security. The only income she has.
Between SS and the small pension, she just breaks even with monthly expenses.
Naturally, no one ever expects their spouse to drop dead in their early 60's.
Nor their employer based healthcare benefits to stop as a result.

Why do I bring all this up?
Because for anyone to not have insurance is not an option.
And while she was able to get an affordable policy thru the exchange, that will still not begin until January 2014 and will not cover 2013 health expenses already racked up.

I suppose she could declare bankruptcy for that $150,000+ in hospital bills, but who would want to destroy their credit at this stage when they are going it alone?
So people can pretend having insurance isn't in their best interest. Or that because Obamacare isn't free, that is somehow outrageous.

So what is it?
Do people want to avoid a similar $150,000 hospital bill by finally having access to insurance?
Or do they want to get all bent out of shape that Obamacare isn't free when they probably were against the idea all along from the beginning?
Can't have it both ways.

You can decide for yourself which you prefer between the two, of having a policy or an $150,000 hospital bill?
To help you decide, take a few moments to sit back and ponder your asset liquidation scenario.
See how close you can come to raising $150,000.

Lawyer up and probably declare bankruptcy is the only real answer.

...I'm no expert - but much like a 401k I'm pretty safe in saying that I *BELIEVE* A Pension is safe from my any wage garnishment. It is DEFINITELY safe in bankruptcy standards.

 

[Paul98]

Tried to sign up with healthcare.gov almost 2 mos ago when it first came online to get a quote, been getting unknown system error messages and having to go back and forth with the healthcare marketplace support team for resolution.

Every time I call with a generated id code, they cannot find me in the system, other times, they tried to manually input my data and receive a system error on there end, suggesting I call back in a week when it's fixed.

Today, a supervisor admitted the system was screwed up from the beginning and suggested to change my current account info (email, address, phone, etc.) to all junk and create a new one.

After doing so, was finally able to get a quote which is nearly 3x what I am paying out of pocket now and for really bad coverage limits.

Whomever designed healthcare.gov needs to be shot, seriously, if newegg or amazon had there website designed this badly, they be bankrupt.

If anyone if expecting to get a coverage with healthcare.gov, forget it, don't waste your time. Iceberg, dead ahead.

Were you getting insurance through your employer or had you bought it on your own before?

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

So what is it?
Do people want to avoid a similar $150,000 hospital bill by finally having access to insurance?
Or do they want to get all bent out of shape that Obamacare isn't free when they probably were against the idea all along from the beginning?
Can't have it both ways.

Your sister had access to purchasing healthcare insurance...she just chose not to purchase it and take her chances. She gambled and lost.

 

[BoberFett]

Hahahahaha, Obama apologist Jimzz embarrassed repeatedly.

 

[MiniDoom]

Your sister had access to purchasing healthcare insurance...she just chose not to purchase it and take her chances. She gambled and lost.

THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW! for the government to tell people to buy insurance... lol

 

[theeedude]

So the site works now, you just don't like the quote you got.