I'm in limbo, I'm in a Catch22, I'm in no-man's land (and I've got lots of company) and all I want to do is buy health insurance. Healthcare.gov is a nightmare that never ends.
And no one will help me. I called their help number 1-800-318-2596 and they said sorry, there's nothing we can do at this time, we'll report your problems to the website.
No wonder people are so angry.
To get insurance, to even see the plans in detail with exact pricing for your age and location, you have to become a member first. Lots of luck with that.
When I finally got on the site--it's constantly going down--I followed instructions and filled out the application. The last step is that they send you an e-mail with a link to confirm your e-mail address.
That link took me two days to get through. It was down, baby, down. Yes, someone suggested clearing my browser cache. It didn't help.
I finally get through and follow all the steps. It says your application is complete, check your eligibility (not for a subsidy or tax credit which I don't qualify for, but just eligibility to buy a plan or even look at the plans being offered.)
I check my eligibility and it says I qualify but I need to answer a few more questions. But it won't direct me to where to find those questions. I go back and review all the information I've given them. It's complete. But somehow, somewhere, there are more questions I need to answer.
I call the phone number 1-800-318-2596. They say sorry, we can't help you complete your membership. Sorry, we can't tell you about the plans or sign you up without you having a membership. Sorry, you can't cancel your application so you can start over and get a new membership. All they said that they would do is notify the website of the problems--of course it's been down most of the day today, so I can't even go back to try again to fix things.
So I'm in limbo and they told me on the phone that many people are having similar problems.
It's infuriating. This is why people are so angry. It's not Fox News and it's not the republicans that are getting people so riled up. It's experiences like mine that are getting people so pissed.
Unfortunately, this just reinforces everything the rightwing says about government messing everything up. Obama says that the ACA itself is fine. But I and millions of others can't get through to determine if that's true.
I keep trying to get through to the website. It keeps going down.
We Democrats downplay the seriousness of this at our own peril.
Wed Oct 30, 2013 at 9:07 AM PT: "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized on Wednesday for the "miserably frustrating experience" people are having with the Obamacare enrollment website and said she's the one that the American people should hold accountable for its problems"
From HuffingtonPost.com.:" Kathleen Sebelius Takes Blame For Obamacare Glitches While Being Grilled By Marsha Blackburn" 10/30/2013
Even the Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admits that the healthcare.gov website is a "miserably frustrating experience." Though given the tenor of some of the comments to this diary I fear if she said this on DailyKos she would be accused of being a liar and a troll.