We have seen a few web design pros discuss the difficulty of designing complex web data collection sites, so I thought I would offer a supporting viewpoint. I don't design sites, but as a public librarian, I spend a lot of time helping people with them.
Healthcare.gov isn't great, but I've seen a lot worse.
I run the library's website and it is OK for what it does. But it doesn't get millions of views a day, it doesn't collect data and it is altogether simpler.
Daily, I help people trying to do simple things on the Internet. Now, they are using library computers because they don't have / can't afford Internet at home. These people aren't stupid. Some are retired office workers who did data entry for years. Others are skilled and proficient at non-computer tasks. But when they try to do something as simple as update a GPS, redeem a coupon or apply for a job, they want to take a hammer to our PCs. I don't blame them.
We had a Home Depot open recently and a batch of people were in applying for the new jobs. This could only be done on-line, with no paper option. It required setting up an account with a password, then creating a profile with a resume and job history. Then selecting which job to link the profile too.
If you haven't prepared all the responses in advance and saved then on a flash drive, this is an hour long task. More if you are a two finger typist. More if our lose the data halfway through. More if you somehow think you printed resume can be magically used in the process. I hear a lot of bad language from older adults.
My son is a recent grad and fills out such forms a lot. The difference is that he is applying for actuarial positions. These people are seeking to be baggers at a grocery store or sales associates at Dollar General.
The flow of these forms is terrible. The same format is used for part time associate and management positions. Of course, bad forms work to select only the most dedicated applicants. But they do not select for much else. Maybe experience in using bad forms.
These are large corporations undertaking something mission critical and the web process is kludgy beyond belief. I have some small appreciation for he hard design is. I am currently struggling with Drupal and another total redesign of our thousand age website. Human computer interface isn't as easy as sci-fi promised us.
So I am willing to believe that healthcare.gov has major issues, but they re the same issues I see on major corporate sites every day. The only difference I can see is the speed factor. Looks like they wrote he code under the assumption that everyone has high speed. My library does, but we split it among dozens of people.
Just to make this perfect, my diary is jammed and I can't get it to save and preview. Hope I don't lose it and have to start again.