Let me just start by saying, I understand the frustration. But let us understand, that frustration stems from a deep need for better insurance options. I and many on this site need them. And, expectations ran high.
This is a colossally complex roll out, made even more so by all the states who refused to set up exchanges, thus making this more complex than was planned for. Thanks, GOP. And all the states refusing federal medicaid money. Thanks, GOP.
IMO, the administration DID go into this a bit naively, in this respect: way too much dependance on the on-line system and not enough emphasis on other pathways to access signing up for Obamacare. This to me is AS disconcerting as the computer glitches. If you know how important first impressions are, you go out of your way to back yourself up. And it should have been implicit and accounted for on day one that you could sign up by phone, mail, directly with the insurance company who carries the plan you want, and even by visiting community and libraries who are participating, and some are.
But then there's this. I have typed my fingers weary answering owly progressives here who just can't believe they can't click and order like they do to get a movie or a song or a book or whatever. All comparisons of Obamacare to retail sites like Amazon are ridiculous. Health care is not the same as buying a juicer. The program must be incredibly more complex for obvious reasons. And I must be one of the few in America to not be surprised there are problems. Embryonic problems that really, shouldn't surprise us as much as it has, if we weren't the land of immediate gratification.
Particularly if you understand the government procurement process. It's better in some places than others, but largely it's an arcane and insane way to do business. I know this from personal experience. Government contracts don't always, or imo even often, lead you to the best and the brightest. Anything but, particularly in the land of IT, where for profit businesses offer much more reward, in every way. This is a complex subject and full of exceptions. But I will just say this. Why do you think Obama ran the most technologically efficient and successful campaigns ever? I'll give you a clue. Because his campaigns were NOT subject to government procurement rules, AND not subject to highly political budget battles. This may have lead to the president's naivety about just how complex these things can be when you must apply the factors above.
Then we need to look at past as prologue. When Medicare part D was rolled out, WITHOUT the issue of trying to make it computer friendly to the entire nation, there were ALL KINDS OF PROBLEMS. And these problems were far less complex than the ACA exchanges. But, the Democrats, aggravatingly the good brownies they can be sometimes, did not make political hay of it. Everyone buckled down to this new law, and hung on till it ran smoothly. Perhaps regrettably, as at least for me, I HATE this program. It's sheer idiocy that it disallows the government to bargain with big pharma. But that's a whole other discussion.
Some Democrats and progressives here will call this all "excuses." And that's what I find troubling. They're realities. And the government is not Apple or Amazon, and the product they're selling through the ACA is A LOT more complex than any product sold I can think of, when you consider what means the most to people. And it ain't their iphones or there iTunes, even if sometimes it seems like it is. In fact, I would challenge anyone to find a precedent to the roll out of the ACA on line.
Sure, the rollout has been one hell of a bumpy ride. No one is denying that and everyone wishes it would have been better. But folks, it's THREE WEEKS IN, on a six month enrollment period. And although the problems on the websites are frustrating, I for one think we had MUCH BIGGER problems before the passage of the ACA.
A time when I, as a self employed person, paid significantly more than I'll have to with the ACA, for worse coverage. AND, a time when due to a pre-existing condition in my family, was trapped in high premiums with no options. I could write on this subject for many paragraphs, and the financial pain it's caused my family, but I'll leave it here.
I'd like to put forth something I heard on Thom Hartmann's radio show yesterday, and my apologies for paraphrasing and not having the numbers exactly right. Wish I'd written them down as I was driving, because they blew me away. But I didn't. So here's the gist. The recent shut down of the government cost this country, thanks GOP, BILLIONS of dollars, can't keep up with the ever rising estimates of that cost. F**k the "thanks Obama" meme. Where's the "thanks GOP" meme?
The roll out of Obamacare OTOH, has cost this country but a fraction of that, according to Thom's numbers, and again, huge apologies that I can't be more specific. But I do know we are talking a MINUTE FRACTION of the cost the GOP just ran up, to roll out the ACA, however imperfect it's been. And I might suggest our country's financial priorities are something to consider here. DUH.
So I guess in the end, I'm really tired of hearing progressive and democratic commenters and pundits wail and whine about the ACA roll out. Sure, we can be frustrated. Sure, we can say this is a disappointment. But COMPARED TO WHAT?!?!?
Compared to aiding and abetting the right wing meme that government can't do anything right? Compared to aiding and abetting the right wing meme that the first three weeks of this roll out defines it? Compared to the GLITCHES the GOP has hobbled this country with? Compared to the problems we had before the ACA? And on and on my questions go.
Look. We all want single payer here. (And let's not forget that the ACA leaves a door, never opened before, NOW opened for us to achieve this state by state, and little commented on.) But anyone who thinks we could have gotten single payer in 2009, or for that matter the public option, is imo, not aligned with reality.
Look at what just Obamacare, a completely capitalistic solution, and in fact once the GOP's solution to healthcare, has done to the GOP---blown them up!--- and to this country. It has thrown us into a tailspin, as progress often does. Sadly, we are very unexceptional in this respect, compared to much of the rest of the world. And I think as progressives, part of the battle we face is facing the reality of what this country IS, here and now. If we don't, we're a prisoner of our own bubble, as much as we accuse the right of being a prisoner of their's
Finally, I just think the onus is on us, we progressives who wanted so much more, to support and encourage the success of the ACA. To have more patience than we do when we are ordering our latest technological device to answer ever more so to our needs for immediate gratification. There is NO immediate gratification in this realm. There just isn't, and that's hard for Americans to accept.
But if we don't lead on this, despite our doubts and frustrations, who the hell is going to?