People Vs Exchanges

From Yahoo:
"Poll: Health exchange rollout gets poor reviews"

The debut of the government's health insurance marketplaces drew a huge audience — and underwhelming reviews. Just 7 percent of Americans say the rollout of the health exchanges has gone extremely well or very well, according to an AP-GfK poll. The reaction was somewhat better among supporters of the new health care law, but still middling: 19 percent said the rollout went extremely well or very well. Among the uninsured — a key audience for the health exchanges — 42 percent said they didn't know enough to judge how well the rollout had gone, suggesting an ongoing lack of awareness about the program in its early days. Three-fourths of those who tried to sign up reported problems, though, and that's reflected in the poor reviews. George Spinner, 60, a retired government worker from Ruther Glen, Va., said he managed to create an online account and password before he got stuck. "It kept telling me there was an error," he said. Reynol Rodriguez, a computer technician from San Antonio, said he was able to do some comparison shopping online but computer glitches kept him from signing up. Rodriguez pledged to keep trying — just what President Barack Obama has been recommending to those who've run into trouble. Among those who've actually tested out the system, only about 1 in 10 succeeded in buying health insurance, the poll found. A quarter of those who tried to buy coverage weren't sure whether they'd succeeded. Overall, 40 percent of Americans said the launch of the insurance markets hasn't gone well, 20 percent said it's gone somewhat well and 30 percent didn't know what to say. Just 7 percent said the launch had gone "very well" or "somewhat well." Even among those who support the president's health care overhaul law, just 19 percent think the rollout has gone extremely well or very well. Forty percent say it's gone somewhat well, and 18 percent think not too well or not well at all. The survey offers an early snapshot on use of the new health insurance exchanges set up by states and the federal government under Obama's Affordable Care Act. Thirty-six states are using the federal government's site, HealthCare.gov, which the Obama administration says has had millions of unique visitors. The administration has declined to release enrollment statistics, saying that will be done monthly. The Census Bureau has estimated that about 48 million Americans lacked coverage in 2012, or more than 15 percent of the population. Starting next year, the law requires virtually all Americans to have insurance or face a tax penalty after a coverage gap of three months.

^ I guess the government can't simply blame the first-day start-up problems. It seems 10 days later there are still dozens of problems. It is symbolic of the overall problems of Obamacare and has a little more meaning because it is the way most people will get the forced health insurance. I like that people from all walks of life (retired, the poor, Democrats and Republicans) are having the same problems with the site. It shows a collective issue with the Exchanges. ^

http://news.yahoo.com/poll-health-exchange-rollout-gets-poor-reviews-072742111--finance.html