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
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“I’m thinking this is all intentional. The administration does not want people to know how bad Obamacare is going hit their wallets until they are sure it is fully funded by congress and the debt ceiling is raised.”
Could well be. Most voters have no idea that unfunded mandates (such as purchase of medical insurance) are in-kind taxes. Many people will be buying (or paying much more) next year for something they CHOSE not to purchase this year (or paid much less for because their policies did not insure coverages they did not want or need such as annual physicals, pre-existing conditions, maternity care, children between the ages of 18 and 27, etc. )
I guess people who are claiming how good the health care is in England do not read the Mail?It seems like every day I am reading horror stories about the NHS.Australia is nearly as bad,may have bowel cancer?Too bad,3 months wait for a colonoscopy here in Tasmania.
Need a hip operation?Minimum 2 years wait no matter how much pain you are in,and that’s just a couple of examples,we haven’t had people dying like flies in one hospital as England has,but we will get there.Type in NHS neglect in a search engine.That will give the true picture.
My wife just got a letter offering her a substantial reduction [about $300 a month] if she switched to Obamacare. [She has Kaiser insurance.] They made it sound very good, so clearly they want her to switch.
But after reading the fine print, it turns out that the new deductibles more than offset the putative savings. Obamacare would cost substantially more than her current plan. The only savings would come if she did not visit the doctor; if she was in perfect health. But after five hip replacements, two total knee replacements, and various other procedures, she goes to the doctor all the time. Obamacare punishes people like that.
What was interesting was Kaiser’s push to switch patients to Obamacare. They woudn’t do that for no reason. Obviously, it is in Kaiser’s best interest to switch people to Obamacare. But my wife read the fine print, too, and she is not convinced.
“My Obamacare experience.”
After listening to extensive coverage on Heathcare/Govt shutdown on WPR, I decided to stand with the Republicans.
Healthcare in this country is over inflated, bloated. Much like other areas of the U.S. economy. No longer sustainable in its current form. The spill over of this over indulgence is being seen in the quality of this care. A ‘taken for granted,’ attitude of those whose jobs are within healthcare. Of, course not all have the attitude.
From the first morning that the website was up and running, WPR was all ready reporting the problems, glitches and overloading.
How to help pay for healthcare, legalize and tax marijuana. Not like the goofballs in Colorado, who are over taxing it to the benefit of maintaining the existing blackmarket. Which leads to and aids in international drug trafficking. Which brings me to another national security issue. Could someone please tell me how any middle eastern country that claims a pious, peaceful moslem population can advocate and maintain as a “major industry” for their country, the growth and cultivation of poppy to heroin? Is this the devil in the details that their general population is suppressed and dooped into believing and accepting? How many are on the TAKE, and ‘live well,’ outside of the region..??
And the new Asian, China and such weapon is..bathsalts? wtf Heard on WPR fastest growing substance to abuse found readily now in N. WI.
Back to space
the space cadet
” Jim says:
October 13, 2013 at 7:40 am
I just tried to sign up and took about 3 minutes. I think there may be an iq problem at play here.”
———————————————————————————————-
You should go to the media. The major networks and CNN have all been desperately looking for someone to interview who has signed up successfully. So if it took you only 3 minutes to sign up you should go to them and get interviewed.
I look at ACA as a boon to medical construction in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and other Caribbean nations. All those wealthy Canadians and Americans who can now go to an American hospital and pay cash to get their heart treatments, cancer treatments and orthopedic procedures within days of a diagnosis will need somewhere to go and if the more advanced of the islands in the Caribbean are smart, they’ll build the infrastructure now and prepare for the medical tourists and their dollars. Of course they would also have to import the doctors. I hope they get on this soon, as we will need somewhere to go when we are sick that will actually begin treatment rather than having the request for treatment run up the bureaucracy to be weighed against cost and if approved, scheduled for three days after you have died.
Being self employed, our family insurance for 4 is going up $500 per month for less coverage. The Government would say more but because they force the addition of things that we are not interested in, like pregnancy coverage and mental health. So, take $6,000 out of the economy for us. I’d rather have Putin as president over Barrack Obama. my 2 cents
For people who don’t like open road speed limits – and especially the mind dulling national speed limit that existed from 1973 to 1996 – some enterprising individuals developed radar detectors. Maybe now some enterprising individuals could develop some ObamaCare detectors. However those detectors won’t have to ferret out just microwave signals. They’ll have to have sniffers that can detect really rancid foul odors.
SasjaL
October 13, 2013 at 7:30:
‘In Sweden it did actually work.’
Sweden, I believe is, or at least was, a fairly homogenous society of about eight million people. To get something that works in that society to work in a diverse immigrant society of over three hundred million is a rather tall order.
I am very disappointed by this post and many of the comments. You can do what you like with your own website Anthony but I am afraid you have just confirmed what my warmist friends have been saying for some time – that this is just a site for right wing propaganda. This allows them to dismiss the papers on climate change as propaganda also. I have ignored the anti Obama rhetoric so far but this gratuitous irrelevant anti government propaganda I cannot ignore.
I live in the UK and have family and friends in the US. There is no doubt in my mind that the UK NHS is superior to the US system for the majority of the population even though it costs half as much. At least no one is made bankrupt or left to die. In the past 10 years I have close family who have had treatment for cancer (2) hip replacement, knee replacement, triple bypass, specialised heart surgery, broken hip, broken shoulder. All received immediate treatment and are still healthy. I am sure there are UK hospitals where treatment is not perfect just as there are in the US but in my experience, that of all of my family and most of my friends bad treatment is rare. The NHS is a treasure and the US would do well to consider its virtues rather than listen to the propaganda.
Unfortunately there is too much money in healthcare. The big healthcare companies are funding all the UK political parties and they will want to get their money back. UK politics is corrupt, like yours is, so I have no doubt that money will talk. There is too much money at stake. Commercial interests want a bigger slice of the UK market and they want us to pay more for our health just like you do. Successive governments have already made changes to bring in private providers. The administration costs have doubled,waiting times have increased and the standard of care has dropped. We are all paying more and getting less and it will only get worse as we burden ourselves with the ridiculous costs of things like insurance and litigation that detract from the money that can be spent on real care.
I don’t know how you define socialism and communism in the US. For me the NHS is about Christian values like compassion. I had an older sibling who died before the NHS was created because my mother could not afford the doctor’s bill even though she nearly starved herself trying (my father was fighting a war at the time). Before she died my mother made me promise to fight for the NHS above all else. That is what I am doing here, in her name, and fighting for yours as well. Obamacare is not perfect but is certainly a step in the right direction.
@CAL pointing out my experience with failed security certificates is “right wing propaganda”? How so?
I didn’t believe the claims that the website(s) were as bad as was being claimed until I actually tried it myself.
CAL says:
“…you have just confirmed what my warmist friends have been saying for some time – that this is just a site for right wing propaganda.”
Then explain how your comment was approved.
=======================================
Obamacare is a disaster. Americans do not want it. Poll after poll has shown that.
The current reaction is all about having this unpopular law shoved down our throats. We don’t want it! Do you understand that? You may want it, but most of us do not.
There are plenty of countries that have the equivalent of Obamacare. They are all disasters, with people being designated to live or die, and to wait endlessly for care; and the cost is astronomical. If Obamacare is such a great plan, why not move to a country that already has it? Because we don’t want it!
OssQss- October 13, 2013 at 8:30 am
” …_ _ _…”
Excellent!
And great comments as well.
CAL says: “I am very disappointed by this post[…]”
Are you of the impression that it is even debatable that the online sign-up is substantially working? Some states report NO known successful sign-ups from their state for the first week…and insurance companies are reporting that only around 1% of those have enough information relayed to them to actually enroll the person in the program.
Little known fact:
In Canada, National Health care was ushered in by Tommy Douglas, a proponent of EUGENICS, as a means for the government to influence who gets what health treatment.
Tommy Douglas’ masters thesis was titled: The Problems of the Subnormal Family
A news article from the National Post discusses this:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/14/tommy-douglas/
The theory that underlies Obamacare is that of government knows best.
It doesn’t.
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!
October 13, 2013 at 6:30 am
says:
‘Whatever you do, don’t call it … Obamacare. Please call it by it’s real name – Romneycare.’
May I respectfully disagree. At the time Romneycare passed it had popular support of the people of Massachusetts, and passed both Houses with bipartisan support. It only affected one state.
Obamacare had none of those features. It has never been shown to have popular support of the people. In fact the surprise election of the Republican, Scott Brown, from ‘blue’ Massachusetts, so as to take away the Democrats’ 60 vote filibuster-proof majority, was as strong a signal as the people could’ve sent – Stop this! That lack of support forced the Democrats to ram it through with every parliamentary trick in the book and on a strictly partisan vote. Not one single Republican voted for it. And Obamacare hits the whole country.
I really don’t believe it’s quite the same.
Tom in Florida says:
October 13, 2013 at 8:45 am
Let’s not forget about the over 1,000 exemptions King Obama has granted his political crony organizations.
Another point about the tax/fine. 1% of gross annual income, PER PERSON. So if a married couple without children making $50,000 gross annual income, that is a $500 tax/fine each. $1,000 taken by the government at gunpoint. Nice!
I am amazed that the Republicans do not see the out Justice Roberts gave them. By declaring the non participation fine a tax, and understanding that it is Congress alone that can change tax law, the House of Representatives should simply lower the tax/fine to $10 with no future increases. Everyone who does not want to participate can pay the $10 and the insurance companies will not be able to sustain themselves as they will only have the sick, old and dying as clients sucking out all the money in the system in a very short order. They will never let that happen. So if you get the insurance companies to fight the ACA it will no longer be politically viable for an elected official to continue to support it. Bye bye obamacare.
_________________________________
You are correct about the $10 fines dooming Obamacare, but for the wrong reason.You have the fine/insurance effect exactly backwards… If the fine were reduced to $10, no one would sign up with Obamacare and would remain with their insurance providers. Obamacare tax would then have few participants. As it is, many have/will choose to pay the $95 fine and stick with their own insurance. However, the small $95 fines only last 2 years, and then rise to punitive extremes in order to force everyone to abandon their insurance company in favor of Obamacare. That’s when the insurance companies fail and single- payer full socialist government- only system comes into effect, with no surviving insurance companies.
CAL it seems to me that you are warning us of how bad it is STILL going to get versus telling us it is your Shangri la. So which is it? Do you think it is the best thing since sliced bread or is it a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
Db Stealey said;
‘Obamacare is a disaster. Americans do not want it. Poll after poll has shown that.’
Forgive me, but you collectively voted for a President that consistently endorsed it and it has democratically passed through the Houses and been validated by the Supreme court. We here in the UK-and no doubt around the world-are baffled that the Republicans appear to be holding the President to ransom over this issue by withholding the budget and delaying the Debt ceiling discussions.
You surely need to do something about both subjects but using Obamacare as a reason to delay action on them seems very undemocratic. Sorry..
tonyb
Jim says:
October 13, 2013 at 7:40 am
“I just tried to sign up and took about 3 minutes. I think there may be an iq problem at play here.”
———————————————————————————————-
As of Friday, October 11, only 52,000 people nationwide were able to sign up..
Jim, your success puts you in a very thin slice of the population.
What a genius.
Sorry, Anthony, you must be mistaken.
I was assured this morning by Paul Krugman (yes, another Nobel prize winner) that things regarding Obamacare website signups were going swimmingly!
/sarc (JUST IN CASE)
.
Watching the mainstream news outlets again are we? They’ll do that to you every time …
I’d just like to say that the UK’s NHS works just fine
I have high blood pressure (since Al Gore got his Nobel Peace Prize 10th Dec 2007)
and in addition to my taxes it costs me £7.85 every 4 weeks to avoid the stroke and the increased heart attack risk I would otherwise face.
No insurance company is taking a financial risk on me. No one is trying to make a quick buck.
It is funded by “Federal Government” horror of horrors
Surgery, Cancer Care, Accident and Emergency, Pre Natal, Child Birth, Post Natal Care. That time I had pneumonia. That time I had a severed tendon fixed in my little finger – have all been delivered free to me and my wider family
What is there to complain about? Apart from UK Taxation, across the board, generally being outrageous.
But that said
Why is the desire to provide a health care system to all deemed an attack on your American Liberty?
Surely as a Nation you have the need to take care of each other. You can’t sit idly by while a fellow Citizen dies, or suffers, due to lack of $$$’s for treatment. What kind of Nation would that be?
What ever happened to Altruism?
Your websites have a few SSL issues (there to protect your privacy) in the early days – no biggy. They will be sorted out over the coming weeks. if not already.
Your President has only tried to make the best of what is a bad job over there, healthcare wise.
To hear American’s complaining, as though he’d just murdered your Grandma, makes no sense across the pond.
Note 1)
The USA has the highest GDP of any Country. If you have financial difficulties as a Nation. You as a Nation are the very best equipped to get out of them
Note 2)
The Belgian’s didn’t have a Government for 541 days – nothing stopped running.
http://www.noaa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov says everything to everyone about the USA today
Dave
The healthcare system in the USA is clearly broken. The US pays twice as much for its healthcare in comparison to most 1st world countries, all for an inferior outcome. This is because the free market doesn’t work in this situation – i.e. how much are you going to pay to save your life? It has “rip-off” written all over it. And the US medical profession is indeed ripping off its patients. The facts speak for themselves:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_compared#International_comparisons
Its a market that needs regulating – hence socialism delivers a far better outcome in this situation.
climatereason says:
October 13, 2013 at 9:34 am
Db Stealey said;
‘Obamacare is a disaster. Americans do not want it. Poll after poll has shown that.’
Forgive me, but you collectively voted for a President that consistently endorsed it and it has democratically passed through the Houses and been validated by the Supreme court. We here in the UK-and no doubt around the world-are baffled that the Republicans appear to be holding the President to ransom over this issue by withholding the budget and delaying the Debt ceiling discussions.
You surely need to do something about both subjects but using Obamacare as a reason to delay action on them seems very undemocratic. Sorry..
tonyb
______________________________
Tony, let us fill in some blanks for you, since there’s much you don’t understand. First, the Republicans have sent bill after bill to the president to keep everything working while they delay Obamacare, but the President remains intractible and refuses any compromise. Second, The Affordable Care Act was not so much passed as it was implemented by decree, with what others have called every parliamentary trick in the book to get it through the Senate.
There are a number of salient points points made in this thread, which may help to bring you up to speed.
If you had said that appeals to dependant, uninformed and abysmally stupid voters is now the foundation of political success (with a huge dollop of vote count corruption,) then you would have hit the nail on the head.
Is this the same UK where the lights (power) may not stay on this winter?
BWAAHAHAHAHHAHHA!
Sorry … it just strikes me as so d*mn funny and hypocritical that you can’t get the ‘basics’ like the electric power system right YET you are so proud of the NHS … as if the NHS is some sort of poor substitute for National Grid when the lights do go out … funny …
.