So has anyoane here been able to sgin up for an exchange policy?l

[iris lilies]

Today is October 12. I've been trying off and on for 12 days to see rates on the Healthcare.gov site.

Earlier this week I was successful in creating an account but that took a few days of trying. Since then, I've not been able to get onto the website. The screen is always a big blank.

For me this is an exercise in satisfying curiosity about rates. Can't imagine the frustration for those who expect to get insurance since they will be fined if they don't have it.

This is Nanny G at her finest, I won't even blame the resident in the White House. And didn't some Canadians design this site? :)There are places to deflect blame if one doesn't wish to look at the Prez and his minions for this.

[bae]

No luck here :-(

[shadowmoss]

I hear that that 'Canadian' company also employs a lot of people in the US, like, say, at it's Phoenix data center...

[iris lilies]

I hear that that 'Canadian' company also employs a lot of people in the US, like, say, at it's Phoenix data center...
ok then, sounds like we've got a minion amongst us, haha! Can we blame you???!

[AustinKat]

I've had the same experience as Iris lilies--I could finally create an account (after several days), but I can't get anywhere with it. This (http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2013/10/problems_with_healthcare_gov_cronyism_bad_manageme nt_and_too_many_cooks.html) is a post on Slate that attempts to describe some of the site's problems.

Healthcare.gov has put up this link (https://www.healthcare.gov/find-premium-estimates/), which will at least show you premium costs for your county, but will not take any subsidies into account. It is *not* the actual application form.

[iris lilies]

At a work meeting the group was discussing the Healtcare.gov site and it was said that the site had been bombed with malicious software to generate millions of hits per second. There was much earnest nodding in the room including our IT guy. I said that I was surprised, had not heard that. And then the comment was put out there that this malicious act was "domestic terrorism."

I've checked Mr. Google a couple of times and found nothing to substantiate the convenient idea that www.Healtcare.gov had been cyber attacked.

But perhaps those here could point me to an authoritative source that lends credibility to this theory.

[iris lilies]

I've had the same experience as Iris lilies--I could finally create an account (after several days), but I can't get anywhere with it. This (http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2013/10/problems_with_healthcare_gov_cronyism_bad_manageme nt_and_too_many_cooks.html) is a post on Slate that attempts to describe some of the site's problems.

Healthcare.gov has put up this link (https://www.healthcare.gov/find-premium-estimates/), which will at least show you premium costs for your county, but will not take any subsidies into account. It is *not* the actual application form.

At first I saw only the Kaiser calculator, but now I do see the other one. What I'm seeing seems very cheap and doesn't jive with what I saw on earlier on the Kaiser calculator. $759/month for 2 people at the Gold plan? And that's without subsidy? Great, if that's it.

[puglogic]

Not fed, but I was able to get on our state's web site and pull out a comparison of the plans I was interested in. The least expensive here, for someone my age, appears to be $284.00/mo for 5K deductible, 6500. max out of pocket annually. Comparable to the rates I'm already paying with Kaiser.

Although I'm naturally skeptical of conspiracy theories, there has been so much media-induced frothing at the mouth about ACA that it would not surprise me if this was a tactic employed. After all, there are states in the union who seem to be trying their best to keep people from even learning their options.

[Alan]

At a work meeting the group was discussing the Healtcare.gov site and it was said that the site had been bombed with malicious software to generate millions of hits per second. There was much earnest nodding in the room including our IT guy. I said that I was surprised, had not heard that. And then the comment was put out there that this malicious act was "domestic terrorism."

I've checked Mr. Google a couple of times and found nothing to substantiate the convenient idea that www.Healtcare.gov (http://www.Healtcare.gov) had been cyber attacked.

But perhaps those here could point me to an authoritative source that lends credibility to this theory.

I think the theory that the site was bombed with malicious software is kinda spot on, although it was not some malicious group trying to take it down, it was the developers of the site itself. I read a pretty detailed reddit thread last week where IT folks were looking at the underlying code of the site. They all said that the various pages were loaded up with excessive javascripts and other calls to the database which effectively locked up the individual users browsers and put an undue strain on the site itself.

I also got a chuckle out of some of the official explanations for the site's problems. Several administration spokespeople said that the ACA was so popular with the populace that it was simply being overwhelmed by the throngs of people using it, which was a problem since the site was only designed to handle up to 50,000 sign-ups per day. The hilarious part of that story is that if it was designed to accommodate 50K users per day, and there is only a 180 day window before potential users are deemed to be in violation for not signing up, it was purposely designed to assist a maximum of 9 million people out of the 40 or 50 million people we're told will benefit from it.

Maybe they should have listened to the Republicans request to waive the individual mandate for a year, otherwise there may be a whole lot of folks paying fines (sorry, make that punitive taxes) through no fault of their own.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Although I'm naturally skeptical of conspiracy theories, there has been so much media-induced frothing at the mouth about ACA that it would not surprise me if this was a tactic employed. After all, there are states in the union who seem to be trying their best to keep people from even learning their options.

It's only a conspiracy theory if one implies it was coordinated by say the Republican party or some prominent right wing group (Anonymous would take credit if they had but that's not generally how they lean politically - they are transparency and civil libs advocates, anarchists, lefties at least in terms of fighting big corrupt businesses). If it's just some unknown people and their bots with no other backing doing Denial of Service, that's not a conspiracy but the most common thing in the world. Scarcely a business exists that hasn't experienced DOS attacks, even mid-size businesses doing nothing much controversial that noone really cares about.


And then the comment was put out there that this malicious act was "domestic terrorism."

Yea if it is a DOS attack or the like that's not some partisan opinion or just accusing one's political foes of being "terrorists", that's how the government actually defines terrorism now (it's how it defines cyber-terrorism for which it is pursuing hefty sentences. Hey I don't like this but ...).

Aren't their other ways to sign up besides online? Say by phone, in person via a navigator or whatever (I don't know if I wanted to do something related to social security, I'd just go to the social security office for instance, if I wanted to do something with my car registration I'd just go to the DMV and wait in line 5 hours :))? Etc.. Then I guess people will just use that though it can't be said to be convenient.

[shadowmoss]

I am not personally involved with any of it. Mostly pointing out that international companies sometimes have US centers that employ a lot of us local folks. Um, yeah, like the one where I work... As I said, I'm not involved personally with any of it, but IR, you are free to blame me. :)

[bae]

I'm so glad that the same sort of folks who run the Post Office, the Department of Motor Vehicles, our collapsing highway bridges, and other models of efficiency are now in charge of our health care infrastructure.

[Lainey]

yep, amazing what happens when funding is withheld for basic services.

[JaneV2.0]

I've never had a problem with the post office, and considering the volume of mail they deal with, that's saying something. And the Department of Motor Vehicles (isn't that a state function?) either, for that matter. But I agree our infrastructure is suffering from an appalling lack of funding.

[dmc]

Delaware has one. Who Hoo!!!

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Delaware-health-exchange-gets-first-enrollee-4899895.php

How much longer to get to that 7 million number.

It only took two weeks to get one. And its party time, maybe that's good for a government program.

[Spartana]

The CA exchange is up and running fine. Doesn't seem to have any glitches that I could see. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to see rates or find a policy outside of using the exchanges since the exchange just keeps sending me into the medicaid section without any ratevquotes unless I fudge y income numbers. So I guess I would have to find an insurance company that is NOT part of the exchange and get a quote directly from them.