First, apologies to my readers for the diversion from the usual fare, but I’ll point out that this entry is covered under the masthead in the category of “recent news” and there’s a relevant WUWT category.
Since like many of you, I’ve been forced to sign a document (at my radio station where I employed part-time) that confirms I’ve been given another document that advises me of my Obamacare rights, and of course being in tune to the news, I’ve been wondering if the claims about the Obamacare websites are as bad as claimed.
I read an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune “Sebelius visit fails to reassure as health care website glitches persist” that said:
Sebelius, who is making similar trips to cities across the country to spread the word about the website, told the audience of about 100 people that Healthcare.gov was “open for business.”
“Believe me, we had some early glitches,” said Sebelius, who was introduced by Rooney, a backer of the law. “But it’s getting better every day.”
So, I decided to find out myself. I went to http://healthcare.gov and chose my state, California. What follows is a record of what I actually got. I never made it past step 1:
Try it yourself: https://coveredca.com/shopandcompare/
NOTE: To be accurate, the website security certificate will work if the “www” is used as prefix, but not the link above sans www. By following the link from the Tribune article, with no other changes on my part, I ended up with the sans “www” connection, which they didn’t get a proper security certificate for. One wonders how many other “glitches” exist in basic security on these websites.
Even when you go in with the “www” there are problems. In Firefox I get this:
UPDATE: Reader Ben points out that it gets a failing grade from an SSL grading service, SSL Labs:
Source: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=coveredca.com
As far as using the state insurance exchanges — you may, but are not required to use them. I am free to remain on my company offered plan. Or, I could also purchase coverage from Blue Cross Blue Shield, or any other company that offers a plan that conforms to the required levels of coverage.
In Canada, you pay your insurance premium to the government, unless you choose Blue Cross Blue Shield (or some other private company), which incidentally charges $99/month for the same top-of-the-line coverage that costs $1500/month here. You go to the doctor of your choice.
Here you pay your insurance premium to a Wall Street insurance company, and the insurance company can dictate who you see and your coverage options, depending on the insurance vendor(s) working with the Exchanges in your area. [I’m not assuming employer insurance or Medicare here. Just individual insurance.]
Guess why the insurance companies were curiously quiet during the Obamacare debate before it was signed. They were ecstatic. We frogs got lowered into the water before they turned the heat on October 1st. They privatized what could have been a government program no different than Medicare for everyone at a drastically lower price.
We got suckered.
The only reason why there is a tax associated with the ACA is because of the experience of setting up Social Security in the 30s. The Republicans were infuriated with it and vowed to challenge it in the Supreme Court.
Here is Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins’ account revealing in a speech after she retired how they passed Social Security. It’s in the archives of the Social Security administration. This is why Chief Justice Roberts passed it in 2011, and because he saw the language that said no taxpayer is to be penalized. (Page 336)
Peggy Noonan, at WSJ:
“Now Is the Time to Delay ObamaCare It’s not what Americans were promised—or even what Congress enacted”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304520704579127891764805638.html
“The USA spends twice what any other modern country does on healthcare per capita and gets lousy or no service for 1/3 its citizens.”
And now we’ll spend 4 times as much and have no service for 1/5 of our citizens.
Der Fuehrer will fight to keep Fuehrercare to the bitter end, not matter how messed up it is. It’s part of his scheme to create the infrastructure for the one-party totalitarian state that he is seeking to establish. This should be evident from the fact that the IRS is the enforcement arm of the program and will be keeping close tabs on everyone who signs up – it was designed this way to extend the tentacles of the government as far as possible into people’s daily lives. Controlling healthcare is as instrumental to der Fuehrer’s plan as controlling carbon dioxide, and he isn’t going to back down on that either, no matter how cold it gets or how many more faux pas come out of the climatist community. The other leg of his system is, of course, the NSA.
Over the last several days I have seen several comments on Yahoo News that when trying to sign up, the IRS is asking what your party affiliation is and what church you attend. Whether these are true may be open to question, but the idea is disturbing to say the least.
If you want a good picture of how bad it is, check out the complaints on their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Healthcare.gov
600 million for a website that doesn’t work is a bargain. Here in Ontario we have spent over a billion for a health records system that doesn’t work, 1.1 billion to NOT build two gas fired electricity plants, another untold millions for helicopters for our air ambulance service which have never flown, 7 billion to Samsung to erect windmills for power that we pay New York, Ohio and Michigan to take because we can’t use it……….
Adam says:
“The real, fundamental, root of the issue is that Americans are generally an uneducated, ill informed and unaware population. No offence, but that is true of the ‘average’ American whose intellectual diet consists mainly of daily doses of the TV show ‘Ellen’, the ‘poetry’ of rapper Jay-Z and the cultural influence of Miley Cyrus. That is the way that the political classes like things to be, that is the way it is, and that is why America has become the way that it is today.”
And what makes it excruciatingly painful is that those of us who are well educated, and who do not watch Ellen or Miley Cyrus, are at the receiving end of the zero-information voters who do.
Regarding the web page fiasco: I find it hard to believe that this is not deliberate. The more we talk about peripheral issues, the less time is spent discussing the central problem: Americans do not want Obamacare.
In every way, Obamacare is far worse than what it replaces. Americans already have good health care! The horror stories are actually pretty sparse. That’s why they make the news when they occasionally happen.
The health insurance system could have been improved greatly if they simply took down the interstate barriers. Someone living in Chicago cannot go to a competing provider in Michigan, which offers insurance for half of what Illinois insurance costs. But Obama and Pelosi wanted their legacy, and they could not care less what it costs or how much more difficult they have made it for the end user.
I saw someone posting how wonderful their insurance is now. I doubt it. Mine increased in cost $70.00 a month in July when it reupped and the deductable [the part I pay before insurance starts helping] went from $250 to $800. This is in California.
It could have been so easy to fix the problems with the current system: First, tort reform to put a stop to frivolous lawsuits and the requirement for so much defensive medicine, and restrict awards to actual damages. Second, simply require preexisting conditions to be insurable, perhaps with a SMALL adder to the premiums. Third, establish a fund (PRIVATELY, not government, managed) to which a small portion of every premium is credited to provide coverage for the uninsured for catastrophic illness or injury. This would still permit LOWER premiums and costs if steps one and two were accomplished. Finally, knock off all the stupid extra paperwork caregivers have to do that is so severely limiting the time they have to see and treat patients.
The only problems with this approach is that it cuts into the trial lawyers’ gravy train and doesn’t let der Fuehrer butt into everybody’s daily life.
And dbstealey, if we’re lucky Obama’s and Pelosi’s legacy will be time in the pen for foisting this unconscionable fraud on the American people
Adam. The US founders were extremely wise. But, you can’t attribute the two term limit to them. That was in reaction to FDR becoming king and extending the great depression through his 3+ terms to help him achieve his ends.
Just adds to the US being a laughing stock when it comes to your inability to implement a proper form of Universal Healthcare. Seriously, you guys have lagged behind most of the civilised world when it comes to providing proper proactive healthcare at the point of access for the vulnerable in your society and then when someone tries to implement something – the best you can come up with is a whinge about the website?
From the above you can see how this Brit/Australian cannot understand why you don’t have a proper healthcare system that provides free healthcare to those who really need it. So rather than whingeing about the website, why don’t you post something that tells the rest of us why you don’t think this system will work?
Colst4 says: October 13, 2013 at 7:47 am
Indeed, clearly we have problems in taking care of those who are already in the country (thinking mainly of seniors) . When we fail to perform the basic routines of the community, what is the point of bringing in new people who need help? The leftists here in Sweden classify the way I express directly above not as realism, but as racism … This is interesting, as the Swedish Social Democrats have still not dealt with its dark past, including National Socialism …
As you did mentioned, this is not unique to Sweden. One also becomes thoughtful when UN accuses EU of not taking responsibility for refugees, when a boat with refugees capsized recently outside Italy … It’s like the EU should take care of and be responsible for all refugees, so the UN doesn’t have to bother (the assets of UN must be sufficient to cover priority expenses such as wages, travel, food, accommodation, etc., etc. …) It’s like we don’t have enough with economical problems caused directly or indirectly by the political cesspools in Brussels and Strasbourg …
Fractions of the funds “invested” in projects without any serious outcome, like anything related to AWG/cAWG, should quickly solve all the problems with refugees …
Rob says: “The US pays twice as much for its healthcare in comparison to most 1st world countries, ”
Cause we have the best Ambulance Chasers in the World and Obama chose to protect his buddies over enacting TORT reform as a part of his Obamacare. Lack of TORT reform, resulting in a net cost to Americans (those who do pay) of One Trillion dollars over next twenty years.
Want another reason why Americans pay far more for our Healthcare than other 1st world countries? Cause we have Government Bureaucrats enforcing Red Tape regulations that no other 1st world countries health care industry have to deal with. Not much different than E.P.A.’s overreach into our lives over alarmist hyped Global Warming sham.
Need more reasons? Americans won’t tolerate health care that is deemed acceptable in most 1st world countries. Americans demand “THE Best” care. Americans reject palliative care in favor of medical fixes. For example: Americans reject pain medicine and crutches for older person with bad hip or knees, insisting instead on expensive replacement surgeries followed by physical therapy. Americans also expect immediate Health Care and reject week to month long delays in seeing a doctor. Americans head to E.R. for colds, sprains, cuts, stomach pains instead of waiting to see their primary physician.
Goldie: “Brit/Australian cannot understand why you don’t have a proper healthcare system that provides free healthcare to those who really need it.”
Enlighten us as to how “Brit/Australian” determine who really needs “free healthcare” (emphasis on “free”).
Well of course nothing is for free – someone has to pay for it. However, should I be hit by a car or suffer any number of injury causing accidents, I have the comfort of knowing that I will be admitted through emergency and treated without someone needing to check my private health care scheme.
As to why should I pay for those in need – because amongst other things those in need are commonly the most vulnerable to disease. Plainly you don’t get this, but, for example, one of the causes of the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria is because folks have to pay for antibiotics and because they can’t afford it they stop taking the course before the end, thereby allowing some more resistant bugs to survive.
My struggle with the comments here is that this actually works reasonably well in many counties around the world and we are no less well off than you are nor do the Governments choose to “punish” various sectors of society.
But as I said, my question was specifically – please can you let the rest of us know why you believe this won’t work?
Barbee says:
October 13, 2013 at 2:02 pm
“Next time we get a Gov’t that wants to punish a segment of the population-can now withhold health care and medication. It can also use this as a weapon to punish it’s political enemies the exact same way it does now with the IRS.
Will it withhold organ transplants for Tea Party members? As offensive as that may sound, knowing what we know now, would that really come as a surprise to anyone?”
Most intelligent and INSIGHTFUL comment on the tread.
andrewmharding says: October 13, 2013 at 7:54 am
Well, when I got the asthma in 1982, the cost of the medicine was fully covered by the national healthcare insurance. This was later changed and one had to pay the full cost up to a given limit (high-cost protection, valid for one year effectively). This type of medicine is not cheap, just like many other types, especially not for someone who needs a high daily dosage …
policycritic says:
October 13, 2013 at 4:11 pm
“Page 336 of the final certified text of the ACA on health.gov says specifically that if you don’t pay the penalty, nothing happens to you. This is remarkable language in a bill because it states that the Secretary of the Treasury cannot make any laws about it.”
That is not true. No criminal charges but civil ones. If you have a tax refund coming, they confiscate it. By the way, the Sec of the Treasury can never make laws in any case or do you not understand the Constitution. You have been taken in by your belief that the government is looking out for our best interests.
Goldie says:
“…this Brit/Australian cannot understand why you don’t have a proper healthcare system that provides free healthcare to those who really need it. So rather than whingeing about the website, why don’t you post something that tells the rest of us why you don’t think this system will work?”
The system is broken for one reason: the government. For the same reason, it will not be fixed. Tell us how to get the government out of healthcare and you will be providing a valuable contribution. Until then, it is you who are doing the ‘whingeing’.
Also, why should we pay for those ‘in need’? Plenty of those ‘in neeed’ can afford to pay the premiums. Why should I pay someone else’s healthcare costs? It is their body; they should be willing to take care of it.
Lastly, the website fiasco and half-billion dollars wasted is a clear indication of the problems. The same folks who arranged for the website are the ones who want to run healthcare. If that doesn’t worry you, I don’t know what would.
Chad Wozniak says: “It could have been so easy to fix the problems with the current system: First, tort …”
All good fixes. I would add allowing E.R.s to reject those who don’t really need Emergency services, and protecting E.R.s from frivolous lawsuits in those cases.
But one must remember, Obamacare was never about fixing our Health Care system. Obamacare is Political. It was about Federal government gaining more power and control. Along with pushing socialism through redistribution of wealth. No different than UN-science and One World politics of Global Warming Sham.
I would like to post some interesting statistics from the United Nations International Health Organization.
Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis: U.S. 65% England 46% Canada 42%
Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within six months: U.S. 93% England 15% Canada 43%
Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months: U.S. 90% England 15% Canada 43%
Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month: U.S. 77% England 40% Canada 43%
Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million people: U.S. 71 England 14 Canada 18
Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in “excellent health”: U.S. 12% England 2% Canada 6%.
Now shall we compare which country is better? England and Canada focus on preventative healthcare procedures better than the US, but when it comes to diagnosis and treatment, the US excels.
Tom J says: October 13, 2013 at 9:08 am
If we are thinking about the same country, one big problem is that the upper economical and political class don’t like this kind of changes in the society and they try to rub this into others …
dbstealey says: “Also, why shoulld we pay for those ‘in need’?
On that topic, we were Lied too. There are not 43 to 46 million Americans who need Health Care coverage and can not afford to get Health Care coverage. The number is closer to 1/10th the claimed number.
First off, the inflated (46 million) number counts approximately 13 Million Illegal Aliens as Americans. Secondly, the inflated number counts people who might need Health Care Insurance but have chosen not to because they are young, thus low risk of needing. Finally, the inflated number counts those who can afford Health Care Insurance, but have instead chosen to spend their money on partying, jewelery, designer clothes, luxury cars, latest electronic gadgets, etc.
Goldie says:
“Just adds to the US being a laughing stock when it comes to your inability to implement a proper form of Universal Healthcare.”
Americans have the most powerful country in the world because they don’t adopt the idiotic programs that are sinking the once great European countries.
“Seriously, you guys have lagged behind most of the civilised world when it comes to providing proper proactive healthcare at the point of access for the vulnerable in your society and then when someone tries to implement something – the best you can come up with is a whinge about the website?”
Lets see Americans are required to sign up at the site, will get fined if they don’t but despite 700 million dollars the site doesn’t work. Nothing to complain about there.
“From the above you can see how this Brit/Australian cannot understand why you don’t have a proper healthcare system that provides free healthcare to those who really need it. So rather than whingeing about the website, why don’t you post something that tells the rest of us why you don’t think this system will work?”
This is obviously hard for you to understand but we live in a democracy based on liberty where governments function is to only provide for the people what they want. The governments job is not to provide a “proper healthcare system” or any other function that people don’t want. Obama promised one thing and then changed his promise. If you love your system than good for you.
The system won’t work for the same reasons all socialist systems don’t work. First, they are inefficient, but because they have no competition they can continue to be inefficient and never innovate. But despite all the efforts the rest of the world is capitalist so better cheaper healthcare will simply migrate away, just like the Canadian doctors go to the U.S.
Second, the system will cost more to those who can afford healthcare. You see you can’t provide healthcare to those who won’t pay without increasing the price to those who will pay. Which of course gives incentive to people to not pay since their healthcare will be provided. And since the government doesn’t require people to prove citizenship it means that those that are citizens will subsidize the healthcare of tens of millions who don’t have to pay because they’re not citizens.
Believe it or not Americans are not envious of your healthcare system or your high energy prices, or your ability to chase businesses away, or your high VAT taxes (there is no federal sales tax in the U.S.), and many realize these systems have been an anchor to the Europes economy. What we can’t understand is why Europeans continue to trash what was once the most free, most powerful society the world has ever known. But we are now realizing why. Because in addition to a public that has no concept of how they became powerful and provided it’s citizens wealth to pay for thing like healthcare, we have a public that realized it can vote for someone else to pay their bills. And we have a party who is willing to sell that idea to get themselves elected. So don’t worry, we’re joining you and we can all laugh to the poorhouse at how we dismantled western civilization for the good of those that didn’t want to work for the things they wanted.