Obamacare Launch: ‘Confusion, Skepticism And Anxiety’

Experts See ‘Problems,’ ‘Horror Stories,’ And ‘A Great Deal Of Uncertainty Almost Everywhere You Look’

Train Wreck: ‘There Will No Doubt Be Consumer Horror Stories’

Exchanges ‘will be full of issues, bugs and technological challenges’ “‘Something will be up and running on Oct. 1,’ when open enrollment starts, said Dan Schuyler, a director at the consulting firm Leavitt Partners and a former director of technology for Utah's health-insurance exchange. ‘It will be full of issues, bugs and technological challenges,’ he added.” (“Planners Expect Glitches In Health-Exchange Sites,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/7/13)

• ‘There will no doubt be consumer horror stories’ “It will be a tough task implementing the online health insurance marketplaces that are required of each state under the federal health care overhaul, and there will no doubt be consumer horror stories about trying to navigate them, insurance company executives warned Tuesday.” (“Insurance Leaders Detail Uncertainty Of Overhaul,” AP, 6/18/13)
• ‘Expect Glitches… Expect some problems’ “Teams of technology experts are racing to finish building government websites that will allow people to shop and sign up for health insurance this October. People involved in the effort say to expect some problems.” (“Planners Expect Glitches In Health-Exchange Sites,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/7/13)
• ‘confusion, skepticism and anxiety’ “But POLITICO interviews with front-line organizers in the state-based groups that are bearing the responsibility of enrolling millions of people who have never paid for health care in their lives revealed optimism tempered with a fair dose of confusion, skepticism and anxiety…” (“Launching The Obamacare Campaign,” Politico, 6/18/13)

FORMER REP. EARL POMEROY (D-ND): ‘Impossible to predict.’ “Earl Pomeroy, a former North Dakota Democratic congressman and state insurance commissioner, said insurance companies were facing ‘the most complicated rating challenge’ that he’d ever seen. ‘It involves the great unknown,’ Pomeroy said. ‘New systems, new market structures and behavior responses from the population that will be impossible to predict.’” (“Obamacare’s Big Question: What’s It Going To Cost Me?” McClatchy, 6/18/13)

• “‘There's a great deal of uncertainty almost everywhere you look,’ said Mark Moody, the president and chief executive officer of WEA Trust, which offers insurance to Wisconsin school districts, state health plan members, and local units of government. … Neither WEA Trust nor WPS are participating in Wisconsin's exchange, at least initially, because of all the uncertainty.” (“Insurance Leaders Detail Uncertainty Of Overhaul,” AP, 6/18/13)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: “The Affordable Care Act, Obamacare… there'll still be, you know, glitches and bumps. And there will be stories that can be written that says, ‘Oh, look, this thing's, you know, not working…’” (President Obama, Press Briefing, 4/30/13)

SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-MT): “I just tell you, I just see a huge train wreck coming down.” (Finance Committee, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 4/17/13)

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