ACA sign Up

[jflynn4]

So I suppose it was almost inevitable. Logged into healthcare.gov this morning. First time, the screen produced nothing but gibberish. Reloaded and it didn't recognize the name/password I had set up weeks ago so I tried asking it to send me password reset. That was about 20 minutes ago and nothing yet. So I tried to go in to set up a different email ... All went smooth, got a confirmation email in seconds. Tried to log in using that new information and, like the first time, the system doesn't recognize the name/password.

As I say, should have expected that it'd glitch up this morning ..... Will try again later today but not expecting much, to be honest,

Will be interesting to see how long it will take to get up and running.

 

[Sue J]

I did the registration and email confirmation a few weeks ago. So I just tried to login and I got a message that many people are trying to use the site, please wait until you see the login page. It was a short wait and I was able to put in my login info.

But now it's hung up on a blank page. Obviously, I'll just have to come back later. Nice try.

 

[2B]

Having problems today is probably to be expected. Having problems a month from now is probably a sign of debacle in the making.

I'm curious what the real cost will be for a real plan where I can search doctors. All we've been able to see so far has been generalized information with no real specifics. I'm going to wait a few weeks before trying.

 

[shotgunner]

Same experience here as the OP. I did actually speak to someone at HHS this morning on the phone after a 5 to 10 minute wait. They said the site was down for another "upgrade" and would not be available until 8AM today.

 

[donheff]

I tried the DC and Maryland exchanges and got nowhere. The Maryland exchange at least notified me that it would not be active until 8:00 AM. I would be shocked beyond belief if many of these systems work well out of the gate. They are IT systems after all.

 

[RitaR551]

Same experience as the rest of you. I figured the site would be overloaded, but thought I'd try.
Anyone else see the irony in the Health Exchange becomes active the same day there is a partial government "shutdown"?

 

[Buckeye]

I tried at 4 am Eastern and it was busy and I got an error message once I logged in. Got on a chat and the rep said others having the same issue and they were going to do an update. Haven't tried again yet.

 

[donheff]

DC site is up at 8:00 AM. Working better than I expected but some stupid glitches. For example, you have to complete a profile to get quotes but it automatically assumes the user smokes. There are drop downs to say yes or no for dependents but no way to advise the system I am not a smoker. Rates are better than expected as has been discussed previously but I am glad I have employer subsidized HI. I am also happy to pay a few bucks more in taxes to supplement low income folks. No one in the lower half of the income range should be stuck with the choice to pay full costs out of pocket or go without HI -- that is not what universal coverage is all about.

 

[easysurfer]

I wonder what kind of volume testing was done. Or maybe Oct 1st is the volume testing

 

[2B]

I wonder what kind of volume testing was done. Or maybe Oct 1st is the volume testing

As you can tell by the earlier posts, there are many "tourists" that really aren't shopping for HI but just want to see what's available.

 

[grasshopper]

I am waiting to do mine in Spanish.

 

[W2R]

Thanks for posting about this. I just e-mailed Frank about it and suggested that he might want to wait a few days before he even tries to log in there, in order to reduce his aggravation.

 

[easysurfer]

For some, rushing the insurance marketplace is like in line for Black Friday shopping. Depending on perception, either a complete madhouse or fun and necessary.

 

[rbmrtn]

As mentioned probably a lot of "tourists". Every media outlet has probably got people trying to login so they can report back on the "failure" of the ACA.

I know a guy in the IT dept at the local hospital. They rolled a new web based management system about a month ago... they are still debugging parts of it ( glad it's not me )

 

[ERhoosier]

Cannot log on there, either. Keep getting the screen-
"Health Insurance Marketplace: please wait"

Tried waiting (long), and re-loading page but no luck

 

[Sarah in SC]

Just a suggestion here, folks, but maybe try tomorrow? Is there some kinda sale on that is good for today only?

 

[donheff]

Just a suggestion here, folks, but maybe try tomorrow? Is there some kinda sale on that is good for today only?

If you actually need the info, wait a few days and then login late at night or early in the morning.

 

[ERD50]

I agree it makes sense to wait a few days, new sites typically get overloaded with the early look-sees. But OTOH, we hear that some 40% or so of people think ACA has been repealed. Imagine if all those people were trying to access it?

-ERD50

 

[KM]

Let's just hope all the IT workers supporting the healthcare.gov website aren't considered "non-essential"....

 

[donheff]

Let's just hope all the IT workers supporting the healthcare.gov website aren't considered "non-essential"....

Shutdown doesn't work that way. The only entities that get closed are those that need a 2014 appropriation. But, like social security, the ACA is a mandatory program that doesn't rely on annual appropriations so everybody associated with it keeps working. Like anything else it may get some peripheral setbacks from other agency shutdowns but the law itself, and the exchanges keep right marching on.

 

[MRG]

I wonder what kind of volume testing was done. Or maybe Oct 1st is the volume testing

Doesn't much matter how much volume testing is done on applications. Folks use them different then the 'scripts' were developed. Volume testing is mostly a feel good for management. IMHO.

MRG

 

[jflynn4]

Scary thing for me, now, is that the system DID eventually let me get thru to the personal verification process. It looks very similar to the process that online credit grantors use (I.e., which of these cities have you previously lived, which of these employers, etc). After three questions, it popped up an error message and said that "we're sorry, you will need to contact 1-800-xxx-xxxx for further assistance or you may chose to submit proof of identity directly to us."

I called the 800 # ... It went to the Equifax customer service number where I was asked for the reference number that "would be provided." Of course, that was probably the error message that had popped up. With out that number, they're saying "sorry, can't help ya."

So I managed to get back in one more time but when I logged in, the system told me that I had exhausted my options for personal identity and would need to call either the 1-800 # or submit documents directly .... And, of course, it provided no link for submission of documents.

Going to wait til next Tuesday to try again and, hopefully, they'll have things worked out a bit more smoothly.

(You know, when I've been involved with a major rollout in the private sector, it's been done incrementally instead of nationwide, all at once. Wondering why they wouldn't have rolled out a single state for a couple days and then gradually cleared through the rest of the country where they might have been able to manage volumes. I suppose government works differently than the private sector on that kind of thinking).

 

[ERD50]

....
(You know, when I've been involved with a major rollout in the private sector, it's been done incrementally instead of nationwide, all at once. Wondering why they wouldn't have rolled out a single state for a couple days and then gradually cleared through the rest of the country where they might have been able to manage volumes. I suppose government works differently than the private sector on that kind of thinking).

Thanks for that perspective. Though I've never been involved with a massive roll out like this, that exact idea came to mind - why not start out with a limited audience? In my business, we did 'pilot runs', and then 'qualification runs'. Incremental, as you say.

As critical as I am of govt operations (and private sector operations for that matter), I'm willing to cut them some slack - any big roll out is likely to have start-up issues. But this 'open it up to everyone (and every reporter and insurance agent and curious bystander) at once' seems just plain incompetent. Or, if that was something required by law, they needed to be ready for that.

It's one thing when the private sector screws up, we can move to their competitor. But this is one of the things that gets many of us worked up - when the govt controls something, and it is a mandate, and they screw up, what is our option?

I like having options.

-ERD50

 

[jflynn4]

Thanks for that perspective. Though I've never been involved with a massive roll out like this, that exact idea came to mind - why not start out with a limited audience? In my business, we did 'pilot runs', and then 'qualification runs'. Incremental, as you say. As critical as I am of govt operations (and private sector operations for that matter), I'm willing to cut them some slack - any big roll out is likely to have start-up issues. But this 'open it up to everyone (and every reporter and insurance agent and curious bystander) at once' seems just plain incompetent. Or, if that was something required by law, they needed to be ready for that. It's one thing when the private sector screws up, we can move to their competitor. But this is one of the things that gets many of us worked up - when the govt controls something, and it is a mandate, and they screw up, what is our option? I like having options. -ERD50

Agreed.

I feel fairly confident that they'll have a fix in place before long but if they're working the systems at the same time they're running, it makes it that much tougher.

I guess we will see!

 

[ChrisC]

(You know, when I've been involved with a major rollout in the private sector, it's been done incrementally instead of nationwide, all at once. Wondering why they wouldn't have rolled out a single state for a couple days and then gradually cleared through the rest of the country where they might have been able to manage volumes. I suppose government works differently than the private sector on that kind of thinking).

I'm not sure your point here is that from a technical IT perspective this would have been more manageable if the Government were to chunk up the enrollment process. It might be the case that a nationwide rollout was required by the dictates of the legislation or principles of public fairness to all. As you probably know, Government IT work, especially a rollout of this magnitude, is generally staffed 90 percent Government contractor (and generally giants in the IT contracting world including a number of Fortune 100 companies) and 10 percent Federal employee (generally Federal managers). I'm not sure Government really works that much differently than the private sector, but the technical and public issues are somewhat daunting to those who merely navigate in the private sector. I say this not to blunt richly deserved criticism for the glitches, but to point out that the Government generally relies on a lot of contractors (from the private sector) to perform this type of work.