Nearly Half Million Apply for U.S. Health Insurance Despite Flaws: Official

[elleng]

Source: nyt/reuters

Roughly half a million Americans have applied for health insurance through new federal- and state-run exchanges under President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, an administration official said on Saturday.

Problems with the federal marketplace's entry portal serving 36 states, the website Healthcare.gov, have put a brake on the ability of consumers to shop for federally subsidized health coverage and drawn derision from Republicans, who oppose the law, popularly known as Obamacare.

"The website is unacceptable, and we are improving it, but the product is good and across the country people are getting access to affordable care starting January 1," an administration official said.

"We are going to work intensely for the next six months to make sure we meet the demand."


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/10/19/us/19reuters-usa-healthcare-enrollment.html?hp

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. Maybe a year or two down the road we will hear 'single payer'

it's a start anyhow.

[Tx4obama]

2. Addtional article/link, below. AP sources: 476,000 Obamacare applications filed

AP sources: 476,000 Obamacare applications filed

WASHINGTON (AP) - Administration officials say about 476,000 health insurance applications have been filed through federal and state exchanges, the most detailed measure yet of the problem-plagued rollout of President Barack Obama's signature legislation.

However, the officials continue to refuse to say how many people have actually enrolled in the insurance markets. Without enrollment figures, it's unclear whether the program is on track to reach the 7 million people projecting by the Congressional Budget Office to gain coverage during the six-month sign-up period.

Obama's advisers say the president has been frustrated by the flawed rollout. During one of his daily health care briefings last week, he told advisers assembled in the Oval Office that the administration had to own up to the fact that there were no excuses for not having the website ready to operate as promised.

The president is expected to address the problems on Monday during a health care event at the White House. Cabinet members and other top administration officials will also be traveling around the country in the coming weeks to encourage sign-ups in areas with the highest population of uninsured people.

-snip-

Full article here: http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268798/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=PvYvBRdF

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_HEALTH_CARE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-19-18-52-07

[Igel]

25. "The President is frustrated by the flawed rollout."

He said it would be just as efficient as the postal service.

Cognitive dissonance?

[Shivering Jemmy]

27. So what?

[Posteritatis]

29. Because the USPS totally leapt, fully-formed, from Zeus' forehead. (nt)

[awoke_in_2003]

32. ...

[sheshe2]

3. Great news elleng~

[NYC_SKP]

4. K/R and this is just the beginning.

I'd make that nearly half million plus one if I could fast forward a couple months.

Imagine how many it will be as the glitches are solved and the traffic subsides.

K/R/Hug.

[frytagger]

5. That's it?

[gopiscrap]

6. what do you mean that's it?

[Lochloosa]

13. You were not expecting a response I hope?

[tofuandbeer]

20. :D ...that made me laugh out loud, when I saw... "1 post"

[Lochloosa]

12. Yeah...that's it. Most likely those 1/2 Million people could not even get insurance.

So yeah...that's it.

[klook]

16. I'm sure you are destined for great things on DU.

Enjoy your stay.

[pothos]

17. lol

not a very impressive entry and exit.

[uppityperson]

22. well, welcome to du. May your time here be enlightening.

[IronLionZion]

24. half a million more than before

[PSPS]

7. But according to corporate/state media, it's "failing" and "unpopular." Go figure.

[SoapBox]

11. Ain't that the truth!

Stupid frick'n limp media...parrot for the Pukes and Baggers.

Just give it a few months and as they tweak/fix the system, millions will sign up.

The limp media also forgets to mention that if folks sign up by December 15th, that coverage can begin as soon as January 1st. BUT the open enrollment goes until March 31, 2014.

There is tons of time to improve the system.

And just think, as hundreds of thousands to MILLIONS of Americans sign up,let's hear how the PukeBaggers are going to shut this down. LOLOL...ya right.

[Iliyah]

8. And this is with obstruction from the 26 states

and all those glitches and hackers effing with the online programs.

[Pterodactyl]

10. Of the half million who have applied, how many have gotten it?

[Lochloosa]

14. Good question. But a better one would be....

How many of those 1/2 million had no hope of getting insurance before.

[Pterodactyl]

34. Yeah, the article does not anser that question either. It seems poorly written.

[pothos]

18. gotten what?

full subsidy? partial? the ability to switch to a cheaper plan? the ability to get insurance regardless of a "pre-existing" condition? dunno what you're asking...

[Pterodactyl]

33. US Health Insurance. That's the title of the article. The article says they applied, but it seems...

... only partly complete because it does not follow up with the obvious next step.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. Where is the report that the Republicans crashed it like they did the phone banks in New Hampshire?

[dem in texas]

19. Just wait and see - it will be a huge success

Many people either can't get on to the site or they are waiting for the glitches to get fixed. Give it more time, it is a complex project. My daughter is waiting to sign up until the site runs more smoothly. She is currently paying $325 per month for a private plan with huge deductibles. The Kaiser test site showed she'd get better coverage and it would run her about $80 per month.

There are many people that are in the same boat as my daughter.

[Igel]

26. If "success" means "lots of enrollees", only a fool would argue it wouldn't be a success.

They're offering people something with, for many of the people, a large subsidy. Nothing shows compassion and progressivism like accepting a large subsidy.

This is to a population who, if offered a 20% discount on a salon-style glow-in-the-dark designer uber-Xian crawfish tie-dyer would buy one in a minute, just because it saved them $15 dollars and even if they hated crawfish, tie-dyed or otherwise.

This is all woolly-brained, though, because it mixes unlike things for the sake of obscuring any pattern. The reports started off clear and quickly went all wool, all the time. The Bloomberg site was good, but i've lost the link.

I suspect that the #s cited include Medicaid enrollees as well as private insurance enrollment. Most state and government health-insurance sites aren't doing all that great--even Kentucky's, last I checked, had dropped below 1000/day. The response has been to merge the two fundamentally distinct programs into one, mixing private-insurance and Medicaid numbers to say "covered by insurance" or "applied for insurance" rather than "enrolled in private insurance". Oregon had great numbers for "covered by insurance," almost all Medicaid. This was trumpeted as a success for the health-insurance exchanges. Politico-rhetorical goal achieved.

There's also still a lot of sincere behind-the-scenes concern about the demographics of those enrolling for private insurance. Will young people, whose rates have doubled or tripled since last year (sans federal subsidy, if they qualify) enroll or do the math and say that the penalty is cheaper?

And even of DU there's been a bit of hesitation here and there over the possibility for short-term fraud and what any penalties will do, with a few actually advocating committing fraud against the government (and taxpayer) to get insurance and then finding some way to engage in "tax sheltering" income to make sure there's no penalty. Sounds very tax-evasion-ish to me, but for some (D), like for some (R), there's a higher morality in getting stuff than paying ones dues.

[SunSeeker]

21. K & R

[seabeckind]

23. At what point do we start to recognise a pattern?

A few months ago there was a big stink about the new VA benefits computer system. Some many years late, very much overbudget.

Then there's the pay systems interfaces that was in the news and the lack of response to back pay errors in that system. If I remember, one of the symptoms identified was a general called back to active duty who was marked as deceased.

Then there's the problem with background checks and the failure to identify people who shouldn't be permitted to buy guns.

Then there's the recent problems with the Navy yard shooter and Snowden and their security clearances.

At what point does someone high up in the admin start recognising that there is a systemic problem that needs to be addressed? I'm not blaming Obama. This problem has existed for long before he took office. And I suspect that it won't be corrected before he leaves.

It is a result of the revolving door between gov't workers (no, not the guy down the bottom, the SES who drives the systems and rides around in the corporate jet) and private industry.

The other factor is the idea that all contracts must be cost-plus with the contractor defining the specs and extent of the contract. And then anytime anything comes up the immediate response is to add more contractors instead of getting rid of the ones that are there. Especially since even when a system fails, those same contract workers exchange ID cards and keep doing the same shoddy work.

Time to clean house in the executive branch. Lots of deadwood that's been cluttering up that branch for the last 30 years.

[legcramp]

28. I suppose it wouldn't be polite to point out that you need to fill out the application

in order to see what's available. Why didn't this "source" release the number who have completed the process and actually purchased their coverage?

And if half a million out of the "10's of millions" that were clogging up the system have been successful in creating an account....

Well, you do the math.

[elleng]

31. 'polite?'

[Doctor_J]

30. this does seem to be rather low

We have around fifty million uninsured. Hopefully the bugs will be worked out soon.