[S-99]

Healthcare.gov still doesn't work. I could make an account. But, like many others, couldn't get my identity verified. Couldn't even get my identity verified when i called the experian tech support number. I was told by them to just go ahead and call the normal healthcare.gov hotline and that those people would take care of me. I sure hope they can. I sort of want to keep being covered for health. Being given a possible run around from experian doesn't do the job.

I just can't believe very well at all that the website was fixed since the bug "experian" is still present for healthcare.gov

Drinking jim beam, got smokes, and hopefully will be able to get health coverage before the new year. Why did i wait? I spent $3000 this month on stuff i needed, stuff i had to do, and people i had to wait on unfortunately. I've been busy to say the least. Either way, something tells me calling on any day in december possibly would have been tied up phone lines and screwing up systems for healthcare.gov with possibly everyone clammering before the dead line (the 31st).

[Nuke]

same, i tried it like a week ago. it wont even let me make an account. after filling out all the usual login stuff i get this your account could not be created message that doesnt tell me what i did wrong, doesnt email, doesnt do anything. ive done this like 20 times, using different user names (some of which were random strings), email adresses, and passwords. it also seems like the email addresses i used were forever logged by the system, so if i try to sign up with those email adresses, they are blocked. i currently have 3 email addresses, and it seems that all 3 of them are seem to be locked out of the system. this is totally unacceptable. seems it would have just been better for them to purchase off the shelf software for this than it would be to write a system that doesnt work from scratch.

[S-99]

That definitely blows Aside from experian being the main problem. I still don't believe the site was anything more than hot fixed for the technical issues as they still happen (perhaps less, perhaps the same amount?).

I finally got my account verified after i ate up 160 minutes on my cell phone (no land line, paid $20 for 200 minutes before this whole thing 3 hours ago;  my 406 service days are more valuable to me to keep in favor of paying for a 30 day monthly plan, i need the phone active with or without minutes for long term). After i got verified, i opted for the website again for picking plans. Really, i didn't have much faith in getting through the system. So, i prayed; more or less just asked god "hey i need this, and whatever the hell you'll do anyway". Now part two.

EDIT: UUUURRRGGGG!!! I login, only to come to the you have just logged out page. WTF?
EDIT2: Got an email from healthcare.gov after my phone call. There is a message waiting for me in the market place. Now if i could just get to the market place since the phone call was next to meaningless. But, wasting all of that time finally got me to the upload documents to verify my identity page. Stupid system

This site must be after something else. I can't even browse health care plans. I have to apply to apply basically. I don't want to call them up and select a plan because the person on the phone is going to get very impatient with me since i know i will spend some considerable time making the best decision for myself while they are constantly re-reading options for me over and over (this is why it would help if i could just browse for plans at the website).

[Dilmah G]

THANKS obama

[Nemesis6]

THANKS obama

[Nuke]

even if i get on its unlikely i will be able to afford any plans at all. when it comes right down to it all obamacare really does is make health insurance mandatory. this is so american politicians can say that all their people are covered.

[Mongoose]

I've yet to actually attempt creating an account, but from everything I understand from using the estimating tools, I'm currently making too little per year to qualify for any subsidies, which would normally mean I'd fall under the Medicaid expansion...except our utter ass**** of a governor decided to forgo that in an attempt to come up with his own cockamamie system that will never be approved by HHS anyway.  So in the meantime, I'm not sure what the hell I'm supposed to do.  There was something about an exemption form you can fill out somewhere, so I guess I'll have to look that up now.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Took me awhile to get an account created.  My issue was that adblock plus for firefox was preventing the site from connecting to the login verification site.  I had the support person file a ticket with their higher tier support to look into that so not sure if it ever got fixed. 

[SypheDMar]

I got my account created and bought my insurance two weeks after it received bad publicity. Then again, I did it at 6:00 am when nobody was at work besides myself and a few other early birds.

[Nuke]

more random strings and no account. for ****s and giggles i played with the view plans thingie, i told it what my income was and all the plans cost more money than i had to spend. tried killing adblock. that didnt work either. now debating downloading chrome and trying again.

*edit*

chrome worked for some reason and i just got on with a random string user name.

also i finished signing up, not a single plan that costs less than my annual income.

[Scourge of Ages]

I'm probably going to have to wait until I have income before going ahead and doing this... Just as long as I stay healthy and don't get hurt!

Yeah there's that penalty thing, but I think we get a year exemption before the IRS will actually dock us whatever fine it is.

[Nuke]

i tried to log back in and it locked me out. omg die. im gonna go out and burn down a hospital.

[MP-Ryan]

I'm going to be a smarmy Canadian for a moment because you guys are all of voting age and I'd like to illustrate for you a contrast in the hopes that it may make you see the absolute stupidity of the healthcare system you all put up with.

A few days ago, my pregnant wife had a severe pain in her pelvis.  She went to the hospital, and was seen by a obstetrician (specialist) in less than an hour, diagnosed five minutes later, and booked in for surgery that day.  The surgery occurred 6 hours later (under general anesthetic), and she was discharged and home the next morning.  Total cost out of pocket: $18 for parking at the hospital.

Setup required?
1.  Canadian resident.
2.  Pay taxes - which amounts off my income to about 16% of my gross yearly earnings, after deductions and what not (my marginal tax rate is considerably higher than the actual amount lost from my pay to explicit provincial/federal taxes; my wife's taxes amount to about the same percentage).
3.  Apply for provincial healthcare number on becoming provincial resident (for me, after I moved; my son who was born here got it after filling in a quick form and mailing it off).
4.  No premiums paid because the wife and I both have additional "extras" coverage through work - so the total bill for her prescription meds required post-op at home was $0.  That required filling out a form when I got my job; ditto for my wife.  There is no eligibility requirement.

So this lunacy you guys are dealing with over the ACA?  It's hilarious.  It's hilariously stupid that you have an overcomplicated mess of a system because you can't politically get a single-payer system because too much of your voting population is too brainwashed against anything that has the slightest whiff of collectivism.  It's hilariously stupid that in order to extended healthcare coverage eligibility to all Americans, your politicians have fought and fought to cobble together this bastardized exchange system because health care in the United States is about politics, not improving people's lives.  And it's hilariously stupid that you all put up with it.

It's New Years' Eve here (for the next 14 minutes).  Make a resolution to quit putting up with bull****.

[Nuke]

i dont think our government is effective at all, if a rabble came down the street chanting "revolution" i would grab my shotgun and join them. i dont see anything changing without a violent uprising at this point.

the sad thing is the only way out of this stupid health care law was to vote for republicans (which didnt work out very well in the previous 8 years). we would have at least still had the old system, though we would probibly be involved with 3 more wars. im proud that i never voted for obama, but not that proud. our government will be **** regardless of who we vote for. burn all the things.

[Scotty]

I'm going to be a smarmy Canadian for a moment because you guys are all of voting age and I'd like to illustrate for you a contrast in the hopes that it may make you see the absolute stupidity of the healthcare system you all put up with.

A few days ago, my pregnant wife had a severe pain in her pelvis.  She went to the hospital, and was seen by a obstetrician (specialist) in less than an hour, diagnosed five minutes later, and booked in for surgery that day.  The surgery occurred 6 hours later (under general anesthetic), and she was discharged and home the next morning.  Total cost out of pocket: $18 for parking at the hospital.

Setup required?
1.  Canadian resident.
2.  Pay taxes - which amounts off my income to about 16% of my gross yearly earnings, after deductions and what not (my marginal tax rate is considerably higher than the actual amount lost from my pay to explicit provincial/federal taxes; my wife's taxes amount to about the same percentage).
3.  Apply for provincial healthcare number on becoming provincial resident (for me, after I moved; my son who was born here got it after filling in a quick form and mailing it off).
4.  No premiums paid because the wife and I both have additional "extras" coverage through work - so the total bill for her prescription meds required post-op at home was $0.  That required filling out a form when I got my job; ditto for my wife.  There is no eligibility requirement.

So this lunacy you guys are dealing with over the ACA?  It's hilarious.  It's hilariously stupid that you have an overcomplicated mess of a system because you can't politically get a single-payer system because too much of your voting population is too brainwashed against anything that has the slightest whiff of collectivism.  It's hilariously stupid that in order to extended healthcare coverage eligibility to all Americans, your politicians have fought and fought to cobble together this bastardized exchange system because health care in the United States is about politics, not improving people's lives.  And it's hilariously stupid that you all put up with it.

It's New Years' Eve here (for the next 14 minutes).  Make a resolution to quit putting up with bull****.

I'm find myself more and more seriously considering making the move.  Granted, I don't think I'm legally allowed to until I'm no longer, you know, in the Army, but that's hardly the point.  That said, research is never a bad thing.  What province do you call home, if I may ask?

[Mongoose]

It's New Years' Eve here (for the next 14 minutes).  Make a resolution to quit putting up with bull****.

What would you suggest we do, then?  In case you haven't noticed, even if one does vote for candidates in favor of sensible reform, there will always be others voting for fringe lunatics to counter it, and the current political situation is so ****ed-up that everyone's being bought off by somebody in the end anyway.  I do feel like we'll wind up at single-payer at some point down the road, but there will be kicking and screaming at every step of the way, and the result we wind up with most likely won't be nearly as effective as it should be.  It's all well and good to sit back and revel in the great system you have up there, but I don't know that you completely understand the reality of US politics right now, and for the foreseeable future.

[MP-Ryan]

I'm find myself more and more seriously considering making the move.  Granted, I don't think I'm legally allowed to until I'm no longer, you know, in the Army, but that's hardly the point.  That said, research is never a bad thing.  What province do you call home, if I may ask?

I live in Alberta, but each province has its strengths and weaknesses.  I grew up in British Columbia and would love to move back, but its not feasible for a number of reasons.

What would you suggest we do, then?  In case you haven't noticed, even if one does vote for candidates in favor of sensible reform, there will always be others voting for fringe lunatics to counter it, and the current political situation is so ****ed-up that everyone's being bought off by somebody in the end anyway.  I do feel like we'll wind up at single-payer at some point down the road, but there will be kicking and screaming at every step of the way, and the result we wind up with most likely won't be nearly as effective as it should be.  It's all well and good to sit back and revel in the great system you have up there, but I don't know that you completely understand the reality of US politics right now, and for the foreseeable future.

I understand that your political system is even more broken than ours, and that's saying something.

The point is that there are a huge number of Americans that are very dissatisfied with the way your country is going, and yet most people are content to sit back and complain.  Do something about it.  Get involved in politics, activism.  Individuals have a lot of power when they work together, particularly in the US - several major movements have proved that.  That's what I mean when I say quit putting up with bull****.

[666maslo666]

Single payer is not required, many successfull countries have universal coverage achieved with less socialist multiple payers, both public and private, and such system would have bigger chances to pass in the US than single payer ever could.

I think what the US needs is a good public alternative that would be best funded as a % of income + subsidies if required and provide a solid baseline in both price and coverage against which private insurers will compete. Or something like that.

[Scotty]

Single payer is not required, many successfull countries have universal coverage achieved with less socialist multiple payers, both public and private, and such system would have bigger chances to pass in the US than single payer ever could.

Emphasis mine.

I have no trouble whatsoever with the idea that multiple payer is also a feasible alternative.  However, the attitude that single-payer is inherently socialist, and further that such is a bad thing is kind of the entire reason this mess exists to begin with.  Stop it.

[MP-Ryan]

Furthermore, single payer does not mean single provider.  Even Canada's single-payer system has public and private delivery; the difference is that my ability to receive both preventative care and active treatment is not dependent on my ability to pay for it - so whether I make $30,000 a year or $300,000 a year, I get the same quality and availability of treatment.

There are some that argue that people willing to pay extra should be able to receive care faster at private sites and I don't have a fundamental problem with that, so long as private delivery options don't reduce the quality and availability of public care.

The United States pays the most of any country in the world on a per capita basis for health care, yet it has nowhere near the best median and mean health outcomes.  Individualist for-profit delivery of health care is both expensive and inefficient, and can be financially crushing for serious illness.