Dozens of identical envelopes all appeared in my inbox today from Healthcare.gov.
We're not a business or a particularly remarkable family, but Healthcare.gov has seen fit to ship us a couple pounds of mail today—and I expect more to come. My wife shook her head and stormed out of the room. I opened every single envelope, painstakingly. It took me the better part of half and hour.
Then, I tossed them all into recycling, shook my own head a little, and went back to work.
Why did they get sent? What was in them? Why dozens?
I honestly wish I could say something other than "incompetence" but that's where I'm at. Call me a concern troll at this point, but I don't like to see tons of wasted paper coming into my mailbox and then straight into recycling without any particular purpose.
What was in each of these rather expensive half-page envelopes with a see-through poly window? An identical two-printed-page letter encouraging me to return to Healthcare.gov to complete my application.
All sent to the same name.
The same address.
Based on an identical application that couldn't be submitted.
With identical identifying information.
For an application in which I opted to receive electronic notices every . single . time .
I've posted a few times about my frustration with Healthcare.gov, so consider this a follow-up. But it's also a vent. Yes, I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated because:
We'd like Healthcare.gov to work for us.
We have been trying very hard for a very long time.
We have been using the website every single day.
We have been calling the center, and mailing paper regularly.
We are, to date, unable to get a simple application through thus far.
We are not the sort of family that likes to use paper needlessly.
All apart of questions about the cost of this process to the government.
And apart from the fact that we explicitly opted out of paper.
And given that we are trying every day, there are likely more of these still to arrive.
They've been telling us to try, try again. To use the phone system, which ends up telling us to submit paper documentation to them, which results in an incomplete application tied to our logins for our trouble. They ask us to delete old applications and start new ones. To clear caches, switch browsers, log in, and complete once more, and so on.
And now, they've decided to mail actual mail to each and every one of those attempts, whether or not they're all to the same name, address, and set of SSNs, and whether or not the applications asked for electronic notices.
And of course already this morning our two latest attempts failed and the customer call center told us once again to simply wait and try again tomorrow, or if we're so inclined, try sending out some paper again. Yes, we have the address. Now I'll hesitate to do any of these things any longer—if every day I'm generating 1-2 more envelopes that will turn up at my door just to encourage me to log in and try again.
I'm not trying to sound dejected here, but this is a frustration post, pure and simple. There are a lot of posts here proclaiming that all is roses with Healthcare.gov and the ACA rollout.
Let's be sure that we don't sound like we're in an echo chamber as hollow as the one the other side is in.
Obama administration, please fix this. Not "fix" in the way that it has been "fixed" so far, with technical "tweaks." Please actually do something at the organizational or policy level that thinks outside "tweaks" box, because these stacks of envelopes containing identical letter after letter to one address, family, and person, all encouraging us to come and try again are, in fact, embarrassing.
And if nothing else, we'd like not to be responsible for using up a couple of reams of paper and a bunch of plastic in addition to everything else. That's why we've opted for electronic notices on every . single . attempt .