Regarding the actual website issues, it would save a lot of money and or time to have the entire application available online so that one can print it fill it out and mail, fax or e-mail it back. The government has already proven that they were too late for next week. Imagine if their jobs were to depend on it. Or if a big boss said "Go home and don't come back your first, second and third day presentations were a failure." Such as this. In New York State, where I live you have many counties. What the health insurance exchange should have done to reduce online traffic to one site, was to regulate the enrollment by not only state but by county. The purchase of insurance could then be done through your county website eg. Westchester New York.gov or something to that effect. This would reduce the amount of traffic to just one website and create more lanes to get through and process more applications.
Lastly, why does the government pout about not having money to spend and then continues to waste it by creating a website that does not work as it should, hiring phone operators who do nothing but apologize for the inconvenience and take your information for an application to be mailed, then have the utmost nerve to give March of 2014 as a deadline for ending open enrollment? Surely, this must be extended to allow the many people who need to get through this one open lane of traffic.
Improvements needed are as follows:
1. Have health insurance applications to be completed over the phone by talking to a customer service representative or by an automated phone system.
2. Create a functional website that allows the counties in each state accept applications to be completed online as this would send traffic to other county websites to accomplish the same thing so that everyone involved can get financial assistance regarding the purchase of health insurance.
3. To have actual paper applications become available from the health insurance exchange website or your counties website in the state you reside in so that the application can be printed and completed. These applications can be faxed, mailed or e-mailed back.
4. Have each health insurance company involved in the state health insurance exchange program accept applications by mail or website and then forward the completed application along with the request for financial assistance to your state(the state you live in) for eligibility and financial assistance review. Once this is completed you can log into the health insurance company website you have selected and check on the status of your application from there. This would be a way of applying to the insurance company of your choice and getting the neccesary financial assistance also.
Of course when it comes to the government providing money, you get what you pay for; which means a lot of aggravation. But, many people did all they could to be able to afford decent health care insurance, but the jobs and salaries are not providing the necessity to do so. The government really thinks people like myself enjoy going to them for help. As the government is dead wrong on this, I would not ask the government for anything if the jobs and salaries were available legally so that I could support myself and provide benefits like health insurance without government assistance. Why is this not available for people and others like me? Instead the government creates a system of more difficulty for people who through no fault of their own ended up without decent jobs and salaries so that they would have to rely on the government. This is not right, fair or appropriate for a government to treat hardworking citizens in this manner.
The state health insurance exchange program- is there a surgeon in the house, the problems that exist are more invasive?