Looks like they reset all the healthcare.gov passwords per arstechnica.

[dkf]

Amid all the attention, bugs, and work happening at Healthcare.gov in light of the Affordable Care Act, potential registrants talking to phone support today have been told that all user passwords are being reset to help address the site's login woes. And the tech supports behind Healthcare.gov will be asking more users to act in the name of fixing the site, too. According to registrants speaking with Ars, individuals whose logins never made it to the site's database will have to re-register using a different username, as their previously chosen names are now stuck in authentication limbo.

The website for the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare&quot launched just last week. With all the scrutiny and debate happening, if ever there was a website launch that was "too big to fail," this was it. So, of course, it did—depending on how you define "failure." The inability of Obamacare portals to keep up with the traffic demands initially put upon them has been seized by politicians and conservative pundits as evidence that Obamacare "is not ready for prime time" in the words of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Now, a week later, the site appears to be stabilizing, with waiting times dropping dramatically for those who haven't been able to register before.

A test of the site this morning had me waiting four minutes to get to the signup page; others got on instantly. But problems persist beyond the front door. The contractors responsible for the exchange—CGI Federal for the website itself, Quality Software Systems Inc. (QSSI) for the information "hub" that determines eligibility for programs and provides the data on qualified insurance plans, and Booz Allen for enrollment and eligibility technical support—are scrambling to deploy more fixes. Technical support call center operators continue to handle an onslaught of calls from users who can't get back into the system after registering.

In addition to would-be Healthcare.gov registrants notifying Ars about the password reset and login limbos, Ars learned that changes made to profiles already within the system may not be saved either—a problem that is only indicated by a very non-descriptive error message.

Ars attempted to contact the contractors with Healthcare.gov but did not receive a response as of this writing.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/10/obamacare-site-hits-reset-button-on-passwords-as-contractors-scramble/

[benld74]

1. They 'sized' the sites response to those on Medicare site at it MOST highly used

times. WHICH is piss poor manner to size how your site will respond. Technical specs not withstanding, the public has no knowledge on whether the site was 'mirrored', for increased users, increased RAM to alleviate bottle necks, increased threads spawned to the back end data base, or whether the back end data base could not respond as fast as required by the number of users coming into the site.
WHoever it was who gave their expertise in building this thing SHOULD NOT get paid!

[dkf]

4. I read a piece on why such a tech savvy campaign has such a tech nightmare rollout...

The campaign had an unlimited budget and HELP from Silicon Valley supporters...in contrast to government contracting procedures done by the HHS.

And there were conflict of interest problems if they had used campaign types.

Too bad.

[Junkdrawer]

2. My 1st attempt password still doesn't work. My 2nd attempt password still does.....

Looks like all passwords were NOT reset...

At least yet.

[dkf]

5. Your username may also be in limbo.

[Kingofalldems]

3. I guess we should just cancel it and do what the repubs tell us.

[dkf]

6. Or you could do something reasonable like postpone the individual mandate penalty for one year.

Jon Stewart and I think that is a reasonable thing to do given the glitches and the fact that employers got an extra year.

But beyond that, for someone who wants single payer, I am pissed they are screwing up the competence issue.

[PoliticAverse]

8. You can't really postpone the mandate since the insurance policies have been priced based

somewhat on assuming it will make healthy sign up offsetting the costs for all the people
that can no longer be denied due to preexisting conditions.

[BlueStreak]

26. From what I see, the prices went up BIG TIME

in my market, something like $200-400 per person per month.

When people boast about lower prices, that is always after factoring in the subsidy. The Insurance companies are making a huge windfall on this, and it doesn't matter one bit whether young healthy people are covered.

Notice you haven't heard any insurance companies complain any time during this process. Their only complaint is that the f###-up at healthcare.gov could prevent them from sucking up as much government money as they would harvest if the system were working well.

[PoliticAverse]

27. Well the ACA requires companies to cover more (including pre-existing conditions) so it

did increase certain insurance costs. It also guarantees insurance companies more customers (the
individual mandate) but caps profits on policies mandating that insurance organizations must spend
"at least 85% of premiums on care and quality improvement" (any excess to be returned to customers
in a rebate check).

[BlueStreak]

29. You are correct. But prices I see are much higher than expected even considering pre-existing.

given how much talk there was of exchanges bringing down prices. I think there has been a lot of spin doctoring going on.

[PoliticAverse]

31. The bottom line is if you had a good policy before the exchanges probably won't be reducing prices

for you (unless you are eligible for a subsidy). What type of policy do you have now?

[BlueStreak]

35. My income is too low for a subsidy, and I have too many assets for Medicaid.

I was hoping that the "competition of the exchange" would be a factor to hold down the cost of my premium, because insurers have to offer the same prices inside or outside of the exchanges. But they get around this by creating one-off policies for the exchanges that cannot be compared directly with what they sell to people that aren't in the exchange.

It seems to me that the exchanges will actually drive up my cost of insurance. A policy that is properly priced at $1000/month retail can be offered on the exchange at $1500 because the government is going to give a $900 subsidy to a lot of people. And when the insurance company sees they can get away charging the exchange customers $1500, they are going to push me to that level as fast as they can.

Jesus Christ, what are the Republicans unhappy about? This is a wet dream for them.

[PoliticAverse]

36. What state are you in? n/t

[BlueStreak]

38. Indiana. No Medicaid expansion, ergo they are still asset-tested

[PoliticAverse]

39. There's some hope for you there...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/04/deep-red-indiana-might-just-expand-medicaid/

[BlueStreak]

46. No. They have no idea what they are talking about

The deal Pence is trying to negotiate has absolutely no resemblance to the Medicaid expansion that is called for under ACA. In particular, it will still have asset tests, which are not allowed under the ACA. And basically if you own anything more than a 1973 Rambler station wagon, you can't get covered.

And like all Republican ideas, at its core is the idea of taking public money and funneling it into the hands of rich private businessmen with virtually no accountability.

The fact that anybody would even have a discussion about legitimizing this is completely outrageous, and exactly the sort of thing that really pisses me off about the Obama administration.

[Yo_Mama]

40. Unless they need insurance ...

Everyone in the country has a stake on really dealing with this problem.

We really can't go on the way we have been.

[SoCalDem]

32. Prices were ALWAYS going to be "higher" for many

The whole ACA plan is about getting more people covered,,,people who either do not have a plan offered through work or who have been REFUSED/CANCELED coverage.

For people in their 40's who make a decent living, ACA will probably NOT be a "bargain".

It is INSURANCE, and actuarial tables are cruel as we age..

[BlueStreak]

34. Well there was the "blessings of free market competition" thing

Last edited Wed Oct 9, 2013, 10:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Which, as far as I can see is complete bullshit. It is the same 2 or 3 oligopoly players in most markets, and the subsidies give them an umbrella to RAISE prices.

I bet if there could be an objective apples-to-apples comparison of equivalent policies before the exchange and after it, the prices went up -- way up for most people if you take away the subsidies. The government subsidies are obscuring that, and the dumbass Republicans haven't even figured out how to point that out. To do so would require looking at facts -- facts which are probably in their favor most of the time on this. But fortunately, they just don't do facts. Death panels, they do. Facts, no.

[SoCalDem]

50. The same thing happened with Part D (medicare RX plan)

As soon as the GOP rammed that thing through, but before it actually took effect, the RX companies started jacking up the prices, so that when it did come online, even with the "discounts", they (the RX companies) would not be taking a hit..

"Business" running important parts of everyone's lives is usually a bad thing..

Refinery fire in Podunk, TX? Within nano-seconds, gasoline prices rise all over the US.. Same thing when winter surprises the oil companies every year and they have to "switch" to heating oil

New RX plan comes along? they immediately start raising prices in anticipation..

Insurance for millions of new customers?.. Instead of being grateful to be rescued as millions of their suckers current customers aged into Medicare, they get greedy & start their pre-effective date increases with a vengeance for the newcomers.

[BlueStreak]

55. And then their pals shut down the non-military part of the govt, which includes

laying off the people who would normally pursue this kind of predatory, fraudulent behavior. Shutting down the government is a green light for these predators to do anything they want.

[uponit7771]

15. Isn't this what the GOP is pushing?!!??! tia

[BluegrassStateBlues]

17. Those of us getting Medicaid and $13 a month premiums don't wait to wait another year...

Stop trying to take my insurance away.

Thank you.

[Ohio Joe]

20. Bullshit repug talking point

The number of employers with more then 50 employees that do not offer insurance is minimal and forcing regular people to go without for another year because of minor glitches is simply a shitty position to hold. Not a worthy idea for any but the most vile repug. Fucking disgusting to see it being pushed here.

[Yo_Mama]

41. Cancelling the mandate wouldn't take away your insurance.

It doesn't change the exchanges at all - it just doesn't fine people who don't or can't sign up.

And I don't believe that the fine is needed to make higher income people sign up. They have assets and future income to protect. The people who aren't signing up are the poorer ones who just can't find the cash, and many of them wouldn't be penalized under the rules anyway.

[Ohio Joe]

47. Yes... The kind republicans only have the interests of the poor in mind...

I'm certain that is what they mean when they say they want to de-fund it

[Demo_Chris]

21. The mandate should be repealed completely and another way found. nt

[Yo_Mama]

43. I'm not in favor of repeal, but I think it should go in when the employer mandate goes in

Right now we have a system that's dumping the responsibility on the employee, and I don't think that's right.

[ChazII]

48. Thank you. I was beginning

to feel like I was in the minority when it comes to this point of view.

[Yo_Mama]

53. Well, mine is not the admin's position

So I guess it is the minority view here at the moment.

I think the law should be upheld, but the law is not being implemented in 2014, so I don't think implementing the consumer side only is intelligent or fair, and it hands the GOP a talking point that is not irrational in my view.

Mind you, I think most of the complaints from consumer side are going to run along the lines of not being able to get insurance that's affordable for them or for which their co-insurance is so high that they still won't be able to get treatment.

My personal belief is that the individual mandate isn't even needed, because the exemptions from it are strong enough that most of the people who won't buy insurance will be exempted from the tax. This year it would never have raised much revenue, and the real problem in this country has been lack of access to insurance rather than unwillingness to buy insurance.

However the employer mandate would have raised significant revenue, and it's been suspended for 2014, and that does leave more employees scrambling, and most of the employees it leaves scrambling are lower income.

[LiberalFighter]

22. How many businesses would postpone something this major for a year?

Something this important should not be delayed at this point. Any delay should be a case by case consideration. A year long delay will cause even more problems because the opposition will be out in force again.

The employer factor is minimal. It affected few employers.

[Yo_Mama]

42. No it's not

Because it also allows the employers to give their employees shitty insurance and try to DRIVE them to the exchanges! The employer mandate affected probably half the employees in this country.

[Kingofalldems]

25. That is precisely what the repubs are demanding. Thanks for coming out with it.

[VanillaRhapsody]

51. Its going to get fixed less than 2 week...we are 6 months out...they are working round the clock to

Last edited Thu Oct 10, 2013, 10:37 AM - Edit history (1)

run down the glitches.

I realize I may have made a mistake in my phrasing here. In my title I meant to say...It's going to get fixed....it's "only been" less than 2 weeks.

[dkf]

52. I doubt it.

In fact they said the link to the premium estimator had a bug. Some people who got their estimates were given wrong numbers when they signed up and are going to be shocked when they see their bill which won't match.

[VanillaRhapsody]

54. I don't doubt it....I KNOW it..

the "link" has a bug....you realize that web pages are stateless right? You have to have special coding (not html) that sends the data collected through a link to the server....All the data about you has to be passed this way. That is just ONE part of this huge system of websites that must talk to each other. They have to reconcile the data between various systems that are NOT all one language. Data has to be translated to work with that system...(this is simplified I know).

[treestar]

58. that's what Boner wants!

[FSogol]

7. LOL.

Notice the President's biggest critics on DU are having the most trouble logging onto ACA? What a cowindydink!

[Junkdrawer]

9. Conversely, only the President's biggest supporters CLAIM to be able to get in....

"No Problem". No one else I've heard can. Reporters, tech article writers. Now THERE'S a cowindydink.

[ProSense]

11. Well,

"'No Problem'. No one else I've heard can. Reporters, tech article writers. Now THERE'S a cowindydink."

...they got in:

Meet Butch Matthews, A Republican Who Came To Love Obamacare After Realizing It'll Save Him $13,000
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023770187

How A Rand Paul Republican From Alabama Learned To Love Obamacare
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/04/2730801/joshua-pittman/

[hughee99]

49. Here's a quote from the second link you posted...

"But on Tuesday morning, Pittman logged on to HealthCare.gov and after some initial glitches and delays, successfully enrolled in a Bronze-level Obamacare health insurance plan. “It took me all day, really,” he says with a laugh. “It kicked me out and told me you have to try again, but I knew what I was getting into with so many people exploring it.”

It sounds like even the Rand Paul repuke you mentioned that loves Obamacare had some issues with it. While he praised the insurance plan it provides, it didn't sound like his experience with the process itself went all that well.

[Rstrstx]

28. Nope

I'm a big fan of Obama and getting on has a been a nightmare

[BlueStreak]

30. I'm a big fan of reality and truth, which means that most of the time I'm with Obama

But the facts in this case are undeniable, and ugly. It is better if we deal with reality than to just act like there is no problem.

[KoKo]

10. Booz Allen of Carlyle Group and Edward Snowden Fame is handling some of this?

From your Post:
A test of the site this morning had me waiting four minutes to get to the signup page; others got on instantly. But problems persist beyond the front door. The contractors responsible for the exchange—CGI Federal for the website itself, Quality Software Systems Inc. (QSSI) for the information "hub" that determines eligibility for programs and provides the data on qualified insurance plans, and Booz Allen for enrollment and eligibility technical support—are scrambling to deploy more fixes. Technical support call center operators continue to handle an onslaught of calls from users who can't get back into the system after registering.

WIKIPEDIA:

As of August 2008, Booz Allen Hamilton’s former parent company (which used the Booz Allen name itself) divided in two. The Booz Allen Hamilton moniker was retained by the half focusing on U.S. governmental matters, with Booz & Company taking sole control of its commercial strategy and international portfolio. Booz Allen Hamilton is majority owned by private equity firm The Carlyle Group, while Booz & Company is owned and operated as a partnership.[12] On November 17, 2010, Booz Allen's shares of common stock began trading at the New York Stock Exchange.

In June 2013 when Booz Allen employee Edward Snowden made the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures including Booz Allen's support in developing the NSA's classified mass surveillance and data collection program PRISM, Booz Allen condemned Snowden's actions as "shocking" and "a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm" and fired him.[13] The United States Air Force issued a statement that Booz Allen did nothing wrong and may continue its business with the government.[14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booz_Allen

[Junkdrawer]

12. Edward Snowden leaves Booz Allen Hamilton and the company goes to hell....

maybe he WAS worth $200K / year.

[KoKo]

16. LOL's....

Last edited Wed Oct 9, 2013, 03:22 PM - Edit history (1)

You can't make this stuff up.... It's hard to know what to think about this except that maybe this sign up was not ready for prime time. And...considering what's going on over it...it couldn't have been scheduled at a WORSE time. Hopefully the bugs will get worked out in the next month or so.

[Yo_Mama]

44. You win the thread and probably the day!

Thank you very much for the humor - I was just trying again and got aggravated. I give up. I'm just going paper.

[dairydog91]

19. Gross incompetence and unreliable employees is no reason to fire a contractor.

They'd have to do something really egregious for that to happen, like forget to fatten their Senator's paycheck.

[KoKo]

33. Indeed...there's that that needs to be dealt with. ACA is a Step...but, the

Learning Curve is really not what those who need the care have time out of their 2nd and 3rd jobs to survive were counting on. Doing Web Site Sign Up when so few can afford the High Bandwitch to get ONLINE...was something that ACA Act and Sponsors didn't seem to realize.

Only if you live in BIG CITY or NEAR can you get adequate Band Width to spend HOURS DOWNLOADING ACA Website and Dealing with the GLITCHES.

Somehow our Government thinks we ALL LIVE in BIG CITIES or are ONLINE. Lots of Americans are only ONLINE part of the time.......

How does one SIGN UP FOR ACA...OFFLINE?

[Myrina]

13. Umm, are they going to let any of us know what our new passwords are?

Or do we have to guess?

ABC123?
password?
XXXXXX?


Yeah and having Booz Allen have access to all of the nation's healthcare info doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy, either.

[grantcart]

18. They didn't reset all of the passwords. Mine works fine and I just logged in

without a problem

If your having a problem just call customer service.

[FarCenter]

14. Garbage in, garbage out

The result of the headlong rush to October 1 was a system that had never been tested at anything like the load it experienced on its first day of operation (if it was tested with loads at all). Those looking for a reason for the site's horrible performance on its first day had plenty of things to choose from.

First of all, there's the front-end site itself. The first page of the registration process (once you get to it) has 2,099 lines of HTML code, but it also calls 56 JavaScript files and 11 CSS files. That's not exactly optimal for heavy-load pages.

Navigating the site once you get past registration is something of a cheese chase through the rat-maze. "It's like a bad, boring video game where you try to grunt and hack your way through to the next step," one site user told Ars.

Once you get through all that, it’s not clear that it's going to do you any good. Underlying problems in the back-end code—including the data hub built by QSSI—have been causing errors in determining whether individuals are eligible for subsidized plans under the program. In DC, that means health care plan prices won't be available to people registering through DC's portal until November. It may also mean that others who have registered already at the federal and state exchanges may get sticker shock later.

[LiberalFighter]

23. That lines do seem excessive especially with the scripts and css files.

Why do they need 56 script files on the first page or any page?

The same for the css files. At most I would think 2 or 3 would be needed.

Leads me to think that there is sabotage by the company doing the website.

[FarCenter]

24. More likely too much formal process, too little time, too many programmers, and too little expertise

Lots of parallel efforts by mediocre staff coordinated by lots of paperwork and project management results in this kind of design.

[RagAss]

37. They should have built it on a mainframe...not on a fucking toy.

[llmart]

45. Not true.

I was able to get in tonight around 9:30 PM using the original id and password I set up on Oct. 2nd. However, I got all the way through to ID proofing and got an error. Hopefully everything I've already entered will be saved so I don't have to reenter it all.

[BlueStreak]

56. Today, it accepted my login credentials for the first time ever

and that was without a password change. And I was lucky enough to get past the ID verification hurdle without having to do the Experian thing.

I actually thought I might get somewhere useful. But what follows was about 9 screens of poorly organized, highly redundant inquiries, and then I eventually got to a page where there was no escape. The only option was to go back to the previous screen. It was a complete dead end -- something that could not possibly have been tested.

And when I clicked on a tangential link that I hoped might get me out of that fatal embrace, it discarded all 9 pages of information I had entered. The damn thing doesn't save the information you have entered along the way. And of course I couldn't get logged in after that.

So I guess this passes for progress.

[llmart]

57. Today I was able to log in.....

it asked if I wanted to complete my application, I clicked on the link to my application only to find out that only the first page of my application was in there and it wanted to start the whole process over, which wouldn't have been half bad if it was faster, but it took me 50 minutes last night to get all the way through to the "ID Proofing" section only to lock up.

Yes, it's frustrating and yes, I could call the 800 number, but I'll keep trying. I prefer to do it online and am in no hurry. I'm just the curious type and want to see the progress they make. They've made progress since Oct. 1.

This is a huge roll out and there's bound to be problems. I'm patient (no pun intended

[BlueStreak]

59. I only got logged in one time and it lost all my data.

Since then, I have not been able to log in. The system just hangs. I've tried 4 or 5 times.