Slate readers sign up for new health care plans—or at least they try to sign up.
Your Life Under Obamacare - http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/10/obamacare_began_oct_1_slate_readers_share_their_stories.single.html
Slate readers sign up for new health care plans—or at least they try to sign up.
By David Weigel
Last week we asked you to tell us your stories about using the Affordable Care Act’s newly unfurled health exchanges. We whittled down the responses we received to seven Obamacare guinea pigs. They live all over the country and represent a variety of political and socio-economic backgrounds. This is the first in a series of dispatches from Slate readers telling us about their experience using the new health care exchanges.
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My wife and I got married four years ago, at slightly above-average ages—I'm 35 and she's 32—so we have wanted to start the baby-making process for a couple years. A lack of money and health insurance has prevented us. She's worked part-time since earning her M.A. five years ago, mostly as an adjunct professor. I'm finishing my Ph.D. (we met in class!) and am still making grad student money. I've got health insurance through school but to add her would cost $6,000 per year—20 percent of our annual earnings! We need Obamacare so she can get affordable health insurance. We will literally start trying to have a baby the next day!
In light of this, I may have gotten my hopes up too high. I visited healthcare.gov at 12:36 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 1—minutes after turning 35! I was unsuccessful. The sign-up process got stuck on the security questions page. No problem, I'd try again later that day.
I remained unsuccessful the rest of the day—I tried at 10:30 a.m., and this time, I tried Live Chat but couldn't get through after waiting 20 minutes. I tried again at 4:45 p.m. because, well, I like to beat my head against walls sometimes! I tried a third time at 9:25 p.m., again seeing if Live Chat would work. It did! I explained my problem to "Kimberly" and got the following response:
Thank you for your patience. I do apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks for your interest in the Health Insurance Marketplace. We have a lot of visitors trying to use our website right now. That is causing some glitches for some people trying to create accounts or log in. You might have better success during off-peak hours, like later at night or early in the morning. We’ll continue working to improve the site so you can get covered!
That's about all I got from Kimberly. I will keep trying, at least a couple times a day until I get through. This is important enough; I don't mind beating my head against this very hopeful wall.