If you place the launch of Obamacare in the context of a corporate launch of a new website or new product, there is no question the enrollment process should have been delayed a month or so or whatever it took to make sure the system was working properly.
We now know the problems are caused not by high volume to the site, but by basic design and programming flaws. Just this past Thursday the ability to look at plan options and prices without going threw the account set up process was added to healthcare.gov. That should have been a no brainer.
The complexity of what they are trying to do with vast amounts of information linked to and dependent on vast amounts of other information residing in state and government agencies makes this a daunting challenge. But isn’t that even more reason to get it at least close to right the first time? When you know your drop dead date three and a half years in advance and can’t get it right, something went wrong. In this case probably the lack of decision making by bureaucrats more than simply faulty system design.
In any case, unhampered by politics IT professionals no doubt would have liked a little more time during and at the end of the process to get it right. The damage to the credibility of Obamacare is still to be determined and that depends on how quickly the experience improves.
- We are available for programming assignments.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Reblogged this on Beatz kane Blog 143.
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I have heard – “Wow – they finally developed an affordable health care plan and they are helping me by pay some of those premium costs.”
What I want to know is who will be able to afford a $5,000 deductible. It seems to me these folks are being asked to pay a small stipend and the rest of us are going to help pay the balance of that premium and then when the deductible is not paid by the “insured” we will be asked to pay for that too.
Who is kidding who here. We might have been smarter to just add a heath care tax of say $50.00 per person per month and tell the Health Care providers to continue what they have been doing all along – offer care and let the rest of the nation pay the costs.
Oh wait – didn’t they determine that the Affordable Health Care Act was in fact a tax but look at the administrative nightmare it created.
We all know who they are….. our President, and Congressional “leaders”! Time to clean house or perhaps throw some more tea in the harbor.
Yep, – I know – this too shall pass and someday it will be considered the norm but we all like to think we had a say in our government which is supposed to be “For the People and By the People”. Someday we will figure that out – I guess.
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Not to worry, lower income people get help with deductibles and co-insurance in addition to the premium.
Dick
Richard D Quinn Editor Quinnscommentary.com
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How low do you mean by “low income?” I thought once somebody made enough money that they got kicked off Medicaid and into the exchange, the premium support was in fact the only support they got. Or is this a state by state kind of subsidy?
At $6350 out of pocket, I’m guessing most lower middle class people buying on the Exchange would be wiped out and put onto Medicaid if they ever had a big medical expense.
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Health insurance companies offering coverage through the Marketplace must lower the amount you pay out of pocket for essential health benefits if your household income is below the following amounts. (Incomes below are based on 2013 numbers. They are likely to be slightly higher in 2014. Amounts are different for each family size, up to 8.)
Up to $28,725 for individuals
Up to $38,775 for a family of 2
Up to $48,825 for a family of 3
Up to $58,875 for a family of 4
Up to $68,925 for a family of 5
Up to $78,975 for a family of 6
Up to $89,025 for a family of 7
Up to $99,075 for a family of 8
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