2 weeks in, healthcare.gov only partly dysfunctional now

[BlueStreak]

Last edited Tue Oct 15, 2013, 09:26 AM - Edit history (1)

I was able to get logged in one time about 5 days ago. It let me go long enough to enter about 9 pages of data, which it promptly discarded and never let me anywhere near seeing my insurance options.

I have tried at all hours of the day since then and could never get past the login screen again, until tonight -- which is past midnight east coast time. This time, I just got into a loop where the only option on a page was called "Get Insurance", but it just dumped me on the login screen, I thought I would try chat again. This had never worked at all before. Tonight, after 10 minutes, I did get a response. I carefully described my problem, and they received this response which was undoubtedly either automated or a hot-key. The agent shot this message out and then immediately dumped my chat session.

I apologize for the inconvenience. We have a lot of visitors trying to use our website right now. This is causing some glitches for some people trying to create accounts or log in. Keep trying, and thanks for your patience. 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.

Is there anybody on DU who has actually successfully applied for their insurance using the healthcare.gov website, for one of the 36 states covered in the Federal exchange? If you are not from one of these 36 states, please don't clutter this thread with posts. I am trying to find out about the status of the exchange operated by HHS, not the exchanges in the states that run their own exchanges.

[Agschmid]

1. .

Clutter.

[davepc]

2. No luck here either.

My experience mirrors yours. Was able to do the questionnaire, but never got anything past that but a blank page or an error screen.

[BlueStreak]

3. It is letting me enter the questionnaire again

The last time I got this far, it eventually got into a loop and discarded all my responses.

[BlueStreak]

9. This must be my lucky night

It saved my application and calculated a subsidy for me. And it let me in to see the plans.

I even logged out and got back in a second time to take a further look at the plans.

SO there is hope. You probably won't have any success during the day for awhile. I never was able to get in until after midnight EDT, and most nights recently the system has been shut down during those hours.

[grantcart]

4. I got through a week ago

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023777148

Another alternative for you might be to go into a physical location which you can find here:

https://localhelp.healthcare.gov/

I did get through in the early morning hours.

Sorry to hear of your frustrations and good luck

[Niceguy1]

5. time to call In experts

from the industry..., ebay, amazon, etc.

[solarhydrocan]

11. maybe Snowden has a backdoor since Booz Allen Hamilton

is one of the "contractors"

Healthcare.gov – Companies Behind Obamacare Health Exchange's Construction And Its Technical Failures
IBTimes.com October 09 2013
http://www.ibtimes.com/healthcaregov-companies-behind-obamacare-health-exchanges-construction-its-technical-failures?ft=l181c

Healthcare.gov,... has suffered from technical glitches in its first week after launch, with thousands still unable to easily sign up for coverage.

The federal government relied on a host of private companies for the information technology used in the Web portal. According to a June 2013 Government Accountability Office report, companies selected for the IT work included Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation, CGI Federal Inc, the Mitre Corporation and Quality Software Service Inc...
MORE>>

It appears that from programming their health websites to feeding troops to snooping on citizens the Feds don't do anything themselves anymore. Just farm a contract out to connected friends. Must be good work if you can get it.

[abelenkpe]

6. Whoa

The agent didn't ask you what machine or system you were trying to log in from? Or where you wer having problems in the process? How can they fix the problems with their site if they don't ask questions?

[BlueStreak]

8. Not a single question, other than "How may I help you?"

[Sedona]

7. I got slightly further in Arizona

Log in.
Click on your name on the top right of the screen
Chose "my applications and coverage" from the drop down menu
This opens a "what would you like to do?" page
Under "View my current applications" choose "my (state) 2014 application"
This opens a "View eligibility results" Click on that which will open a pdf with your eligibility.
(I'm eligible for Medicaid expansion)
After you view your results (the last page should be open) choose "My plans and programs" from the left side of the screen.
This opens a page that says "My plans & programs (1)
Now that you're enrolled, you should contact your plan directly to learn more about your current coverage. If you need to make changes to your household information or your income, you can report a life change.
Status: Initial enrollment to AHCCCS Medicaid's Medicaid Program"
There's a big green button that says "visit medicaid/chip website" which is a dead link. It clicks but it opens nothing.

I googled Arizona's Medicaid website

http://www.azahcccs.gov/applicants/

and got this message.

HEAplus "Go Live" is Friday, 10/18/13
A decision was made to "go live" with Health-e-Arizona Plus (HEAplus) on Friday, October 18, 2013. This date was selected because there is lighter system use on Fridays and weekends, making it easier to manage the new system before the heavy work week use starts on Monday.

Before 10/18/13, HEAplus must be updated with application information entered in the current Health-e-Arizona (HEA) system during the prior 2 week period. This will require that access to HEA be stopped at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, October 16, 2013. HEA will not be available on Thursday, October, 17, 2013. We apologize for this inconvenience.

I'm thinking it might be the the states' Medicaid websites are not interfacing with the federal one.

But what do I know? I'm a realtor!

Hope this helps.

[AmBlue]

10. Some success in Florida...

I've been able to get through the application process and can log on to Healthcare.gov and see that I've applied (it says "application complete" and there's an ID number for my application), however, I haven't been able to see my eligibility results. I have an e-mail that tells me I need to read my eligibility results before shopping for insurance, but the system won't let me get to that point. In the past week, my account page is getting more detailed-- in the beginning I could see none of it-- but now I can see things like my address and notification preferences, and I've been able to edit those preferences. So it does seem that they are working to improve it.

In the beginning I couldn't log on at all, and maybe after 20 tries I would get in. Now I seem to be able to log in without problems, but I just cannot get to the next step of reading eligibility results. Live Chat and Phone customer service both apologetically tell me they are working on the "glitch," and request that I keep trying. Today I requested a snail mail application.

[JPZenger]

12. For now, you can look at plans and prices at websites of individual companies, but hard to compare

I could understand that the system was overloaded the first couple days. However, this situation is getting inexcusable. It should have been fixed by now, and in particular, it should be easy to use during non-peak hours. What companies are actually running the system?

[Bolo Boffin]

13. TX here.

I got as far as the choices for plans. That's all I wanted, because I have good insurance through my employer. I did have trouble at one point, and deleting cookies and browser history fixed it for me.

[Sedona]

14. BTW, Don't isee Chrome browser for this.

[BlueStreak]

16. I'm not sure Firefox works either

Last night, when I finally got in, it was with IE. It wouldn't surprise me that the only testing they did was with IE.

[randome]

15. Medicare Part D was a kerfuffle at the start, too.

This is nothing to be wringing our hands about.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[PATXgirl]

17. I was finally able to log in and partially complete my app yesterday afternoon. In TX using Chrome.

But I did have to create a new user profile from the one I originally created October 1. It says the October 1 info is not a valid user.