Obamacare Rollout: ‘Wasn't Designed Well, Wasn't Implemented Well, Looks Like Nobody Tested It’
Today in Washington - Oct. 10, 2013 - Day 10 of Government Shutdown.
The Senate reconvened at 10:30 AM. The Senate has recessed subject to the call of the Chair for Democrats to attend a meeting with President Obama. Senate Majority Leaders Harry Reid (D-NV) has failed to take up the bill set over yesterday by the House to fund the survivor benefits of military.
The House reconvened today at 10 AM. They will be taking up H.J. Res. 79 — "Making continuing appropriations for certain components of the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes."
Yesterday the House passed the House unanimously passed (425-0) H.J. Res. 91, the Honoring the Families of Fallen Soldiers Act, which ensures that death benefits to families of fallen troops will continue to be disbursed during the government shutdown. They also passed H.J. Res. 90 (254-172) — "Making continuing appropriations for the Federal Aviation Administration for fiscal year 2014."
Besides continuing to pass bills to fund the government which are pocketed by Senator Harry Reid, the House Republican leadership has continued to reach out to the Obama administration. This morning at a press conference House Speaker Boehner discussed the opportunity House Republicans will offer to President Obama today to move a short-term increase in the debt limit – a good-faith offer on the part of Republicans to meet the president halfway. As Boehner noted, it is now up to President Obama to come to the table to negotiate long-term solutions to reduce our debt and deficits, fund the government, and provide fairness for all Americans under his health care law. Following are Boehner’s remarks:“You know, the president is fond of saying that no one gets everything they want in a negotiation. And frankly, I agree with that. Nobody gets everything they want.
“But over the course of the last 10 days we’ve been trying to have conversations with our Democrat colleagues. They don’t want to talk. The president doesn’t want to talk. We tried to offer bills that would re-open parts of the government only to have them rejected by our counterparts over in the United States Senate.
“So what we want to do is to offer the president today the ability to move a temporary increase in the debt ceiling, an agreement to go to conference on the budget, for his willingness to sit down and discuss with us a way forward to re-open the government, and to start to deal with America’s pressing problems.
“Listen, it’s time for leadership. It's time for these negotiations and this conversation to begin. And I would hope that the president would look at this as an opportunity and a good-faith effort on our part to move halfway – halfway to what he’s demanded in order to have these conversations begin.” As for Obamacare, stories continue to roll in today detailing the disastrous launch of the Obamacare exchange websites. The Washington Post noted that despite being warned that there were significant problems, the Obama administration decided to launch last week anyway.
Ed Morrissey posts a report from CBS News describing the Obamacare launch as “nothing short of disastrous.” Correspondent Jan Crawford reported, “In the past week, the president’s signature achievement has become the butt of late night jokes. . . . No one knows how many people have managed to enroll. The administration refuses to release those numbers, but the website’s launch has been nothing short of disastrous. Media outlets have struggled to find anyone who’s actually been successful. The Washington Post even illustrated that sought-after person as a unicorn. USA Today called the launch an ‘inexcusable mess’ and a ‘nightmare.’ White House officials initially blamed the problem on unexpectedly high volume . . . . But after the website went offline over the weekend for repairs, officials now are acknowledging other problems. . . . [C]omputer experts say the website has major flaws.” Crawford interviewed Luke Chung, a supporter of the law whose company builds online database programs. Chung did not hold back, saying, “It wasn’t designed well, it wasn’t implemented well, and it looks like nobody tested it. . . . It’s not even close. It’s not even ready for beta testing from my book. I would be ashamed and embarrassed if my organization delivered something like that.”
Politico reported on another potential problem yesterday: “Once you finally make it into HealthCare.gov, it’s not clear how you get out. For those who’ve busted through glitches on the federal Obamacare insurance website to create an account, there’s no clear, obvious way for consumers to delete the accounts if they choose — at least not in the current incarnation. A POLITICO reporter used HealthCare.gov’s customer support chat to request that an account be removed, but the support agent said the request would have to be referred to an ‘advanced’ customer service system. The option to delete account information has become a staple of online services, from Facebook to Amazon. But HealthCare.gov isn’t a private-sector business transaction. And on the federal health insurance portal, people for at least the next few weeks will have to create a basic account even to browse health plan options. . . . Privacy and tech experts had mixed reactions to the ‘delete’ gap. ‘You don’t want that information persisting on the website, especially when it’s clear you’re no longer interested in creating the account,’ said Chris Rasmussen, policy analyst at the Center for Democracy & Technology.”
It’s not just the federal exchange having problems, though. According to the AP, “Hawaii’s health insurance marketplace is hoping to turn around a stalled start by providing plans and pricing to consumers by Oct. 15 — but there are no guarantees, its executive director said Wednesday. . . . The insurance exchange — a key component of President Barack Obama’s federal health care overhaul — hasn’t been able to sell any insurance in Hawaii because of problems with the software at the heart of the marketplace. Consumers can’t see plans, even though a variety of options from two insurers have been approved to be sold by the state’s insurance division. The problems have meant consumers can only submit basic information using a web form, with the promise they’ll be contacted in a few weeks.”
And in Iowa, after the state insurance commissioner told the Des Moines Register that he didn’t know if any Hawkeye State residents had managed to sign up, The Weekly Standard’s Daniel Halper notices today that one TV station was told by an insurance provider that a total of five people had signed up. The reporter explained that the “system doesn't seem to be working for most who log-on” and that his station “tried multiple times on Wednesday to see how long it would take to set up an account to try to shop the rates from the plans. Each time we logged in, within 5 minutes, the system was down.”
Seeing all this obvious dysfunction, Americans are clearly not impressed. The AP writes today, “The debut of the government's health insurance marketplaces drew a huge audience - and underwhelming reviews. Just 7 percent of Americans say the rollout of the health exchanges has gone extremely well or very well, according to an AP-GfK poll. The reaction was somewhat better among supporters of the new health care law, but still middling: 19 percent said the rollout went extremely well or very well. . . . Three-fourths of those who tried to sign up reported problems, though, and that's reflected in the poor reviews. . . . Overall, 40 percent of Americans said the launch of the insurance markets hasn't gone well, 20 percent said it's gone somewhat well and 30 percent didn't know what to say. Just 7 percent said the launch had gone ‘very well’ or ‘somewhat well.’”
As Republicans have said from the beginning, this unpopular law was poorly designed, passed on a partisan basis in a slapdash fashion, was stuff full of regulations that are resulting in people losing their health care or paying a lot more for it, and the implementation of it is proving to be a complete mess. Yet Democrats still refuse to join Republicans to repeal and replace it or even delay its implementation.
Tags: Obamacare Rollout, government shutdown To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Senate reconvened at 10:30 AM. The Senate has recessed subject to the call of the Chair for Democrats to attend a meeting with President Obama. Senate Majority Leaders Harry Reid (D-NV) has failed to take up the bill set over yesterday by the House to fund the survivor benefits of military.
The House reconvened today at 10 AM. They will be taking up H.J. Res. 79 — "Making continuing appropriations for certain components of the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes."
Yesterday the House passed the House unanimously passed (425-0) H.J. Res. 91, the Honoring the Families of Fallen Soldiers Act, which ensures that death benefits to families of fallen troops will continue to be disbursed during the government shutdown. They also passed H.J. Res. 90 (254-172) — "Making continuing appropriations for the Federal Aviation Administration for fiscal year 2014."
Besides continuing to pass bills to fund the government which are pocketed by Senator Harry Reid, the House Republican leadership has continued to reach out to the Obama administration. This morning at a press conference House Speaker Boehner discussed the opportunity House Republicans will offer to President Obama today to move a short-term increase in the debt limit – a good-faith offer on the part of Republicans to meet the president halfway. As Boehner noted, it is now up to President Obama to come to the table to negotiate long-term solutions to reduce our debt and deficits, fund the government, and provide fairness for all Americans under his health care law. Following are Boehner’s remarks:
“But over the course of the last 10 days we’ve been trying to have conversations with our Democrat colleagues. They don’t want to talk. The president doesn’t want to talk. We tried to offer bills that would re-open parts of the government only to have them rejected by our counterparts over in the United States Senate.
“So what we want to do is to offer the president today the ability to move a temporary increase in the debt ceiling, an agreement to go to conference on the budget, for his willingness to sit down and discuss with us a way forward to re-open the government, and to start to deal with America’s pressing problems.
“Listen, it’s time for leadership. It's time for these negotiations and this conversation to begin. And I would hope that the president would look at this as an opportunity and a good-faith effort on our part to move halfway – halfway to what he’s demanded in order to have these conversations begin.”
Ed Morrissey posts a report from CBS News describing the Obamacare launch as “nothing short of disastrous.” Correspondent Jan Crawford reported, “In the past week, the president’s signature achievement has become the butt of late night jokes. . . . No one knows how many people have managed to enroll. The administration refuses to release those numbers, but the website’s launch has been nothing short of disastrous. Media outlets have struggled to find anyone who’s actually been successful. The Washington Post even illustrated that sought-after person as a unicorn. USA Today called the launch an ‘inexcusable mess’ and a ‘nightmare.’ White House officials initially blamed the problem on unexpectedly high volume . . . . But after the website went offline over the weekend for repairs, officials now are acknowledging other problems. . . . [C]omputer experts say the website has major flaws.” Crawford interviewed Luke Chung, a supporter of the law whose company builds online database programs. Chung did not hold back, saying, “It wasn’t designed well, it wasn’t implemented well, and it looks like nobody tested it. . . . It’s not even close. It’s not even ready for beta testing from my book. I would be ashamed and embarrassed if my organization delivered something like that.”
Politico reported on another potential problem yesterday: “Once you finally make it into HealthCare.gov, it’s not clear how you get out. For those who’ve busted through glitches on the federal Obamacare insurance website to create an account, there’s no clear, obvious way for consumers to delete the accounts if they choose — at least not in the current incarnation. A POLITICO reporter used HealthCare.gov’s customer support chat to request that an account be removed, but the support agent said the request would have to be referred to an ‘advanced’ customer service system. The option to delete account information has become a staple of online services, from Facebook to Amazon. But HealthCare.gov isn’t a private-sector business transaction. And on the federal health insurance portal, people for at least the next few weeks will have to create a basic account even to browse health plan options. . . . Privacy and tech experts had mixed reactions to the ‘delete’ gap. ‘You don’t want that information persisting on the website, especially when it’s clear you’re no longer interested in creating the account,’ said Chris Rasmussen, policy analyst at the Center for Democracy & Technology.”
It’s not just the federal exchange having problems, though. According to the AP, “Hawaii’s health insurance marketplace is hoping to turn around a stalled start by providing plans and pricing to consumers by Oct. 15 — but there are no guarantees, its executive director said Wednesday. . . . The insurance exchange — a key component of President Barack Obama’s federal health care overhaul — hasn’t been able to sell any insurance in Hawaii because of problems with the software at the heart of the marketplace. Consumers can’t see plans, even though a variety of options from two insurers have been approved to be sold by the state’s insurance division. The problems have meant consumers can only submit basic information using a web form, with the promise they’ll be contacted in a few weeks.”
And in Iowa, after the state insurance commissioner told the Des Moines Register that he didn’t know if any Hawkeye State residents had managed to sign up, The Weekly Standard’s Daniel Halper notices today that one TV station was told by an insurance provider that a total of five people had signed up. The reporter explained that the “system doesn't seem to be working for most who log-on” and that his station “tried multiple times on Wednesday to see how long it would take to set up an account to try to shop the rates from the plans. Each time we logged in, within 5 minutes, the system was down.”
Seeing all this obvious dysfunction, Americans are clearly not impressed. The AP writes today, “The debut of the government's health insurance marketplaces drew a huge audience - and underwhelming reviews. Just 7 percent of Americans say the rollout of the health exchanges has gone extremely well or very well, according to an AP-GfK poll. The reaction was somewhat better among supporters of the new health care law, but still middling: 19 percent said the rollout went extremely well or very well. . . . Three-fourths of those who tried to sign up reported problems, though, and that's reflected in the poor reviews. . . . Overall, 40 percent of Americans said the launch of the insurance markets hasn't gone well, 20 percent said it's gone somewhat well and 30 percent didn't know what to say. Just 7 percent said the launch had gone ‘very well’ or ‘somewhat well.’”
As Republicans have said from the beginning, this unpopular law was poorly designed, passed on a partisan basis in a slapdash fashion, was stuff full of regulations that are resulting in people losing their health care or paying a lot more for it, and the implementation of it is proving to be a complete mess. Yet Democrats still refuse to join Republicans to repeal and replace it or even delay its implementation.
Tags: Obamacare Rollout, government shutdown To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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