Will technology accomplish what the GOP could not?

[householder]

A) They had three years and spent over $500 billion to build it

Millions, not billions. Still a lot of money, but three orders of magnitude smaller.

 

[Kaitzilla]

A) They had three years and spent over $500 billion to build it and this is the result.

B) The deadlines before people are punished for not using the system they built are approaching much faster than the estimates I've seen for fixing the issues it has.

Actually, it is $500 million for the website.

If they are still having major issues 2 weeks after going live, the technical glitches might be very serious indeed.

I suppose one could enter in their info and see if things are improving each day.
https://www.healthcare.gov/
Though assuredly the IRS will notice those who apply with real info and fail to make it to the end.
They'll have a nice list of people who need taxing when the mandate penalty rolls around.


Here is the real thing to be watching in my opinion:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/..._4118041.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

The urgency is underscored not only by the fact that the low-income Americans and the 48 million uninsured -- those whom the law was primarily intended to benefit -- won't get the help they were promised. There's also the plight of those who currently have coverage they bought themselves that now has to be replaced, said Laszewski, who is president of Alexandria, Va.-based Health Policy and Strategy Associates. That represents about 3.6 percent of the population, according to census data.

Many health insurance products currently on the market don't meet Obamacare's benefit standards and consumer protections so they are being discontinued. Consumers with these plans are the most likely to see rate increases next year, especially if they earn too much to get tax credits. "They've got to convert to a new policy -- no ifs, ands or buts about it," Laszewski said.

And while people who currently pay for their own health insurance are likely to do whatever they can to remain covered, buying a plan directly from an insurance carrier or using a private online broker isn't what Obamacare promised, and tax-credit subsidies aren't available without the federal system. Moreover, these private companies aren't prepared to deal with millions of customers who were supposed to be using the government marketplace, Laszewski said.

Under these circumstances, the lion's share of the people who do whatever is necessary to sign up through HealthCare.gov are likely to be the sickest and most expensive to cover because they have the greatest need, Laszewski said. That would make the pool of people covered very costly, causing health insurers to lose money and likely rethink whether they want to participate in the exchanges, he said. "The fundamental threat to Obamacare is we don't get enough healthy people in the pool to keep the rates reasonable, and they are in grave danger of that problem," he said.

If these problems persist longer -- weeks, months, a whole year -- the entire Obamacare project falls apart, Laszewski said

From what I can tell and understand so far, there appears to be real potential here for an ugly positive feedback loop.

With Obamacare subsidies, only the 1st year is hard to pay for.
After that, you get a big check and each following year health care premiums become affordable if you apply the money towards health insurance premiums again.

If only the doggedly determined very sick people sign up the first year, and the young healthy lot choose the $95 fine, then insurance companies will lose money the first year and have to raise premiums.

The 2nd year, young people notice everything is finally running smoothly, but the premiums have gone up even more. Would young people swing $250 or $300 a month for a year in the promise of a 3/4th or 90% refund after a year? Maybe when the fine for not having health insurance reaches $600, but that is year 3. Hopefully they've been taught basic finance and to delay instant gratification by our public school system.


If the government will send you a check if your premiums are beyond 2-9% of your annual income depending on what you made, the sky is the limit on premiums if Uncle Sam pays for the rest and we get into a positive feedback loop on prices.

Does anyone have a handle yet on what the deductible is on these plans currently?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductible

And for 3.6% of the population, no you can't keep your current plan.

 

[DinoDoc]

Millions, not billions. Still a lot of money, but three orders of magnitude smaller.

My bad. Typo. I am shamed.

 

[Azale]

@kaitzilla, I think more young people will sign up than you think. The states with their own exchanges are a good example. The average wait time is still under a minute for the phone number, young people will sign up. I don't think its doomsday quite yet

Who knows how much better this would go without an opposition doggedly committed to rooting for failure.

Could someone say yes/no to these observations gleamed from the liberal lamestream media:

1. tons of people have visited the healthcare.gov website with the intent of buying
2. the state-run exchanges are working pretty good
3. the kinks in the system can be fixed
4. medicare's rollout was even more rocky

So far I have seen nothing that would dissuade me from this. I felt like difficulties from the initial rollout were pretty much guaranteed, I'm not really shocked so far. Anyone dancing on Obamacare's grave right now will look pretty silly in a decade.

 

[JollyRoger]

Is Rick Perry behind trying to overwhelm healthcare.org?

After years of trying to undermine the Affordable Care Act, Texas lawmakers are suddenly embracing President Obama’s signature domestic policy accomplishment. On Thursday, the Texas Tribune reported that the state is shuttering a state-based health care program and encouraging Texans to sign-up for coverage in the federally-run health care exchange.

Texas’ high risk pool program, which opened in 1998, provides coverage to individuals and families with pre-existing conditions who couldn’t find insurance in the individual health care market. But since the ACA’s exchanges began enrolling beneficiaries, the state deemed the program obsolete, arguing that Texans could find a better deal in the federally-run exchange:


The state has deemed the high-risk pool obsolete, as the Affordable Care Act prohibits insurance companies participating in the federal marketplace, which launched on Oct. 1, from denying coverage to Texans with pre-existing conditions. Gov. Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 1367 in June, scheduling the pool’s abolishment.

The pool will close Jan. 1, and the 23,000 people currently participating in the pool must sign up for coverage on the insurance exchange by Dec. 15 or find coverage elsewhere to avoid a lapse in care.

The shift may help beneficiaries — state health experts project that “people are going to have many more options and many better options in the marketplace ” — but it undermines Gov. Rick Perry’s (R-TX) entire health care philosophy and contradicts the GOP’s claim that states are best suited to take care of their uninsured populations.

Throughout the 2012 presidential campaign, for instance, Perry supported complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act and suggested that states should take the lead in crafting health care policy. “If we can get the federal government out of our business in the states when it comes to health care, we’ll come up with ways to deliver more health care to more people cheaper than what the federal government is mandating today,” Perry said during a 2011 GOP primary debate. Two years later, he appears to have changed his mind.


Update



In June, Perry also signed a Republican-backed bill that requires the Texas Department of State Health Services to inform individuals applying for certain state health services about “private health care insurance coverage and the health insurance exchange.”

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/17/2798991/rick-perry-actually-encouraging-texas-enroll-obamacare/

 

[DinoDoc]

1. tons of people have visited the healthcare.gov website with the intent of buying

Visits to federal health-care Web site off 88% The Fed's have also been extremely cagey with the actual enrollment numbers.

2. the state-run exchanges are working pretty good

Really? Maryland's Health Exchange Is Reportedly Beset By Troubles, 'Looks Like Something A College Kid May Have Put Together'

3. the kinks in the system can be fixed

I think we're well past calling these kinks or glitches at this point.

 

[JollyRoger]

I think the GOP cornered the market on kinks long ago.

 

[sophie]

I think the GOP cornered the market on kinks long ago.

Official song of the Republican National Convention, 2016:


Link to video.

 

[FriendlyFire]

I'm struggling to see the relevance of this comment. Are you trying to tell me that it is the Bush Admin's fault that the Obama Admin has been so incompetent in implementing its signature achievement?

Let me put it in simpler terms:

3000 dead Americans = competence, medals of freedom all round
4 dead Americans = incompetence and the US president must be impeached immediately

 

[DinoDoc]

Let me put it in simpler terms:

3000 dead Americans = competence, medals of freedom all round
4 dead Americans = incompetence and the US president must be impeached immediately

I'm struggling to see the relevance of this comment. Are you trying to tell me that it is the Bush Admin's fault that the Obama Admin has been so incompetent in implementing its signature achievement?

Perhaps you could try again.

 

[JollyRoger]

I think the Obama admin has been fairly competent in carrying on with some of the Bush admin's achievements.

 

[RobAnybody]

GTA Online was coded better than healthcare.gov. That should scare you.

Remember when you could conquer the whole Civ V world with 4 Horsemen? Good times.

EDIT: also, remember Dragon Age 2? And the ending of Mass Effect? Stupid software that's not perfect on Day One.

 

[DinoDoc]

Remember when you could conquer the whole Civ V world with 4 Horsemen? Good times.

EDIT: also, remember Dragon Age 2? And the ending of Mass Effect? Stupid software that's not perfect on Day One.

You are going to have to work pretty hard to find an equivalent disaster from the private sector. I do enjoy you not even bothering to pretend to have read the thread though.

 

[Archbob]

So the executive branch doesn't think they should be subject to Congressional oversight. Interesting.

Tea Party just wants to stop or slow Obama anyway they can whether there's a good reason or not. They don't care oversight, they just want to screw up anything that Obama does. You can stop pretending they have any other goal.

 

[DinoDoc]

they just want to screw up anything that Obama does.

So its the Tea Party's fault that the Obama Admin has been incompetent in implementing its signature achievement?

 

[Archbob]

So its the Tea Party's fault that the Obama Admin has been incompetent in implementing its signature achievement?

No, but it is due to them that they can't bring in outside help.

Officials feared that if they called on outsiders to help with the technical details of how to run a commerce website, those companies could be subpoenaed by Hill Republicans, the former aide said. So the task fell to trusted campaign tech experts.

You know they would abuse the subpoenaed every chance they get, no so much to vet the outsiders, but just for the sake of derailing Obamacare.

 

[JollyRoger]

You are going to have to work pretty hard to find an equivalent disaster from the private sector.

I had no problem navigating healthcare.org today. Still waiting for the private exchange website for the Texas State Bar to even go live.

 

[RobAnybody]

You are going to have to work pretty hard to find an equivalent disaster from the private sector. I do enjoy you not even bothering to pretend to have read the thread though.

Good heavens. Are you still trying to win? You've got an overdeveloped sense of vengeance. It's going to get you in trouble some day. I already gave you some disasters. Plus, MOO3, Duke Nukem Forever. The latest SimCity. SWOTOR. Also, Windows Vista. How many people do you know that own a Microsoft Zune? Heck, even Civ IV got to patch 3.19.

Is this your first time dealing with a software release?

 

[Commodore]

Perhaps you could try again.

I think the point he is trying to make is the people who cry for Obama's removal from the Oval Office are the same people who had absolutely no problem with the very similar policies and actions of the previous administration. Thus highlighting the inherent hypocrisy of Obama-haters and illustrating why they should be dismissed until they somehow reconcile their hypocrisy.

 

[Masada]

I think Mitt Romney should be congratulated for his path-breaking work on ObamaCare.