Why so much negativity against fellow DUrs who share their problems with the ACA website??

[darkangel218]

What the fuck?? Are we supposed to post only "happy" news?? The reality is that MANY are frustrated with how the website is working. Those are real people, and your fellow DUrs FFS!!!!

[hobbit709]

1. Because there are some here that don't want ANY criticism directly or indirectly of Obama.

Their theme song seems to be "Home On The Range"-"Where seldom is heard a discouraging word"

[840high]

70. Yes - I've noticed.

[madrchsod]

2. we live in illinois and my wife had problems with the site for weeks

fortunately her employer changed plans and she`s getting better insurance coverage for a bit less money. i`m on medicare and her insurance will pay for my glasses and dental work which is`t covered on medicare.

i think the insurance exchange the company went through decided to at least match the aca plans and tweak the dental and eye insurance to get the companies business

[seattledo]

15. But why say that publicly?

Unless you don't like the ACA and support the Republicans with their attempts to make it fail.

[darkangel218]

20. Why say it publicly???

Because this is a community, and members share both the bad and the good.
Sorry, denying the shortcomings of the ACA website will not help us. We need coverage. People care because they need coverage. This is not a political battle. Someone's life may depend on that coverage.


Try to look at the facts objectively. It would help.

[hueymahl]

30. +1

[marsis]

39. +2

[GreenPartyVoter]

53. +3

[villager]

55. +4

we're supposed to be the honest ones, the "grown-ups" who can talk realistically about things, etc., and not just a knee-jerk fan club...

[siligut]

68. Yes, liberals think for themselves and react accordingly

But the right-wing is in lockstep and would never criticize one of their own programs, thus they maintain positive publicity, of course they also have much of the media in their pocket. The trouble is that the right-wing continues to seed the media to undermine the ACA and liberals who complain are the cherry on top for them.

[GreenPartyVoter]

69. So what if we are "the cherry on top?" If a problem is occuring

it stands to reason that people should be allowed to talk about it if they are frustrated.

[jtuck004]

22. Why not? Is it so sad and pathetic that lying by omission is necessary to sell it?

If it is any good it will stand the test. If not, down the drain it goes.

There ought to be people going to jail for delivering a half-assed web site and getting $150 million to put in their greedy little pockets, and the same for banksters posting record profits while getting $85 billion a month to make money from the taxpayers, while 26,000 people are applying for 600 jobs in the Walmart Industrial Complex and 50 million kids, working folk and seniors, our neighbors, have to survive on about $3.50 a day for food.

You want to beat the Republicans? Make life better for working people in this country, not excuses for ineptness and criminal behavior.

[malokvale77]

60. Hell Yea! nt

[Fuddnik]

28. Yeah, some people would complain if you hung them with a brand new rope.

[awoke_in_2003]

40. So being critical about the problems...

equals supporting the republicans?

on edit: I did not read (yet) the post this is addressing, but to say that expressing criticism equals supporting the pukes irked me a little.

[darkangel218]

46. I didnt say that you silly. lol

I was saying the opposite.

[awoke_in_2003]

49. Okay, now I am totally confused...

I was responding to seattledo

[darkangel218]

50. You repklied to me by accident i think

Its all good

[awoke_in_2003]

52. Someone is wrong with one of our browsers...

mine shows I responded to seattledo. Either way back at you.

[JTFrog]

51. Well it's probably 5:00 somewhere, roflmao! n/t

[Logical]

57. So when something is wrong with the government we can only complain when the GOP is in office? WTF?

[diabeticman]

66. +1

[Yo_Mama]

62. Because it matters unless people really don't need to buy the insurance!!

This is something that has to be made to work.

If it doesn't work, it's a problem for ACA. Pretending it doesn't exist won't make anything any better, and may leave a bunch of people out in the cold.

This is placing politics above policy, IMO. That is not a winning political gambit.

[madrchsod]

92. since when is the truth supporting the republicans?

[Demit]

3. Oh for heaven's sake. It was the wailing-and-gnashing-of-teeth tone the OP employed

that some of us were mocking. Not to mention how he went right to blaming the website for his problems. To his credit he admitted that later.

I reserve the right to mock anyone for melodramatic overwriting. FFS.

[darkangel218]

4. Melodramatic overwriting?

Is that all you got from that poster's OP? Did you even once try to sympathize with him and understand how frustrating and scary ( since there is not much time left ) the whole experience must be??
I expect mocking from our enemies, not fellow DUrs.

Go on iggy, FFS!

[Demit]

9. Yes. The melodramatic style undercut the substance.

The poster was transparently & obviously focused on his writing. It's called trying too hard. Wife sitting in a darkened room clutching the cat, indeed.

Also, he jumped to an erroneous conclusion, without taking the time to be sure of his own facts.


darkangel218, friendship doesn't make you immune from mockery. Nor should it, if it is deserved. Or do your friends know that they dare not tease you, in fear of being called your enemy?

[Bobbie Jo]

12. Agreed

Exaggeration deserves to be mocked.

Several responses in this thread provide additional examples of this behavior.

Perfection 1!1!, etc....

[Kali]

65. the OP of this thread, for another example

[TheKentuckian]

5. Message discipline. Politics reduced to winning the spin.

[quinnox]

6. Living in the fantasy of "happy cloud land" will do that

This is the place where all problems and complaints about the ACA are considered to be false or showing disloyalty. After all, the ACA is Obama's big achievement, so it has to be perfect, right?

No complaints or anything negative at all is acceptable, or it shows you never really loved him.

[darkangel218]

7. +1

[Skip Intro]

23. +100. n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

72. The PERFECT example being post #15. n/t

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

94. Lol! Sad, but true here.

[name not needed]

8. I'm worried she's going to hurt the cat.

[bvar22]

10. My wife & I have tried every single day since the unveiling in October,

...and are not officially enrolled yet.

I haven't posted about our problems because of the hostile environment at DU for those who ARE having problems,
and because we realize this is ONLY the Website.

Also, we live in Arkansas which is one of the few states that opted for that bizarre hybrid of State/Fed cooperation. That is bound to have caused some of the complications.

We have made steady progress over that time,
and now will have to go in person to the State Human Services Dept for our official enrollment in Arkansas Medicaid Expansion..

We are delighted to be eligible (or so it looks now).


All that said, the very expensive website failure was like handing Republicans gas to throw on the fire.
With the time they have had, and the taxpayer money spent, this should NOT have happened,
and heads should have rolled.

..and the website is not the hard part.
The hard part comes in Jan, 2014 when new policy holders actually try to convert their insurance into Health CARE.
If THAT works as well as the website, then we are in for an exciting ride.

Here is hoping that Healthcare.gov is NOT an omen for Jan1, 2014,
or the rest of ObamaCare.

[valerief]

18. I thought you could dial a phone number for coverage. nt

[moriah]

35. Arkansas's access.arkansas.gov site actually works VERY well for newly-eligible Medicaiders.

You do have to install Google Chrome to use it as it doesn't like Firefox, but for those enrolling in the Medicaid expansion, their site is friggin' awesome.

If you haven't been able to get enrolled on the healthcare.gov website and you qualify for the expansion, that's how I was able to get my application to work, and I've recommended it to every Arkansan falling in that income tax bracket. If you're not already receiving food stamps or some other public benefit, you do have to verify your income with the agency in Pine Bluff handling the income verifications, and it sucks they don't mail you a prepaid envelope to mail your proof of income back in, but I know several people who already have their ID cards since their income was already verified in the system.

[Curmudgeoness]

42. I understand why you have not posted about your experiences.

My Republican sister and her hubby have been having trouble as well, and I would have loved to have gotten some help for them. But I also hesitated from coming here to detail their frustrations and ask for suggestions. That is how toxic the environment here can be. I cannot help my sister because I don't want to start a blow up here, or be accused of hating the ACA.

[moriah]

74. If they're in Arkansas, check out the website I posted above.

They have to click on the "Pre-Enroll in the Health Care Indepedence Program" link and then it asks the same questions the federal site does except they make more sense and save better than they did in early October.

Now, this only works for Arkansans who are going to be part of the Medicaid Expansion. But it's the preferred place for people to enroll, apparently, because they processed my application very quickly and asked for proof of income, which unfortunately is difficult for me to gather, i'm going to have to get out bank statements and send in along with my invoices for my piecemeal work. I may not have insurance as of January because of it, but we have until March to get it without a penalty.

[Curmudgeoness]

76. Alas, they are not in Arkansas.

The just moved to Tennessee. And the insurance they had prior to this was from Texas, and it was cancelled to boot. They also do not qualify for Medicaid, or shouldn't. Their biggest problem has been that they happened to move at the wrong time, when they are in a new place without resources that they are aware of, and are stuck in the "how do we get insurance" situation.

[Cleita]

11. Lot of mean people hanging out on DU these days.

Many would rather be snarky and critical instead of helpful.

[monmouth3]

13. I agree, some always ready to pick a nit..n/t

[darkangel218]

14. Problem is, they pick on people who are already down.

I find that pretty disgusting.

Like there isnt enough shit in this world to deal with.

[Demit]

24. Like crying wives & clutched cats

Because of a website that is "impressively and spectacularly bad...a freaking marvel of fail, the cirque du Soleil of incompetence."

Oh wait!

"the problem there is not with the website (which seems to be working now that we figured out what was causing the error), but with my knowledge."


Yeah, you're right, darkangel, there is shit in this world that is more important to deal with, more important than sympathizing with someone who makes such dramatic accusations—with such colorful illustrations of trauma!—before he does his homework.

[rickford66]

16. Two days trying to get insurance for my son on the NY website

I'm sure it will work out sometime so I'm not upset.

[valerief]

19. What happens when you phone them? nt

[PatrynXX]

17. I'd assume it's some of the Republicans fault

I'm a bit disappointed the ACA website uses the same company that wanted Romneycare instead. Let alone not being IT at it's core.

It's the Republicans fault and the medias fault for tying the website into ACA. And they say it time and time again Botched ACA rollout. X_X hello BOTCHED WEBSITE ROLLOUT!!! ACA wasn't BOTCHED !!!! yeah sure some left wing media conspiracy my ass. Knew long ago when the media went after Clinton that it's ratings based. and places like DU were the answer. Hopefully we don't lose that.. Once upon a time Democrat = racism because Democrats were Conservative

[MisterP]

21. prolly the "it's crap, but they'll fix it later" crew from '10--it wasn't fixed, ergo it's got no

problems, ergo they're mad at anyone pointing out the latter

[bananas]

25. Could you link to the thread(s), please?

There are a lot of posts on this message board, I can only read a small fraction of them.

[darkangel218]

29. Here

This is the latest one http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4176217

[bananas]

34. Thanks, k&r. nt

[OKNancy]

26. used the federal site last week ( Oklahoma)

took 30 minutes. We had no problems at all ( after I figured out a password problem ... my fault)

[Mojorabbit]

64. I used it last week and registered in five minutes. My sister however has yet to get through

the process. It is wild that we can live five miles from each other and have such hugely varying experiences.

[freshwest]

67. Generally the problem is user originated. I hate to update so almost nothing works and I know why.

I don't blame websites for that... It ain't magic.

[diabeticman]

27. Thank you for posting and the support.

[darkangel218]

33. Anytime

[Spitfire of ATJ]

31. What's really funny is when some local geeks claim they could have done better....

....and it's true.

[Progressive dog]

32. It might have something to do with the gleeful Rethugs

trotting out people to complain about the ACA website and the ACA itself.
Out of curiosity, does the ACA site have a page for reviews or complaints?

[lostincalifornia]

36. Oh boy, can I relate to that. It is rare that I post anything that reflects a negative view on the

I have been called a lot of things, and it just isn't worth it

Ideally, negative posts should be used as forum, not only to vent, but hopefully show people alternative ways to get around the issues

I will be eligible for COBRA in January, and in my case COBRA is cheaper with better coverage than I could get from the ACA

For a lot of folks I do not think that is the case, but for me it is

There is no question the ACA isn't for everyone, and if you are slightly above the income for a subsidy, depending on you age the premium cost could be quite substantial

That is why they provided an opt out if your premium for the bronze plan exceeds 8% of you income

[og1]

37. ACA federal vs state site

State sponsored site in my state works like it should excellent! It is a god send to those of us with a preexisting condition! And beside the health issues many of us suffer from another per existing condition known as limited income! ACA works when the state is behind it! And when Obama is out of office those red states will be begging for those health care dollars!

[George II]

38. I think many of the problems people are having now are their own fault....

I logged onto HealtCare.gov three times about a month ago:

First, from Connecticut where I live - no problem being moved over to the CT exchange site where I was given 12 options

Second, from New York, where I used to live - no problem being moved over to the NY exchange site where I was given 26 options (!!!)

Third, from Texas which doesn't have an exchange - no problem navigating the site through the enrollment process up to the point of actually finalizing my enrollment.

So, I tried three ways to approach enrollment, no problems whatsoever.

I really don't know where all these issues are now, I haven't seen any. So I suspect it's people who either don't fully read the instructions before proceeding or don't understand what they're doing.

[Demo_Chris]

41. Anyone posting one of those threads now (like my own) knows what to expect. nt

[ProSense]

43. I'm still trying to figure out

Jackasses like Limbaugh or Paul Ryan say that government is the problem. It's a sentiment that I oppose, not because I don't recognize the partial truth in their words, but because I think the necessary good that government can provide is more important than the all-too-predictable incompetence and corruption.

...what that comment has to do with having trouble with the site, especially after the problem apparently has been overcome.

[Demo_Chris]

47. I spoke too soon, the problems have not yet been resolved. nt

[Vattel]

78. McCarthy would be impressed.

In investigating someone, McCarthy would look for anything that person wrote or said that seemed sympathetic to communism, and then he would use it to question the patriotism of the person in question. You apply the technique very well, although you use it to discredit anyone who says something negative about Obama or his policies.

[ProSense]

79. You make no sense.

Seriously.

[darkangel218]

81. And you do?

[ProSense]

82. Which personality is this?

[darkangel218]

83. I dont know, you tell me.

( I'm assuming you're talking to yourself ?)

[ProSense]

84. "I'm assuming"

[darkangel218]

85. So am I right?

[darkangel218]

86. Im equally curious with ProSense "personality" im talking to now..

Care to share?

[Number23]

91. Wow.

In a thread full of overheated drama, you still have somehow managed to take the cake.

[Vattel]

93. Fair enough, but it is true that the poster consistently uses the McCarthy playbook.

[Curmudgeoness]

45. I am sorry that you are getting so much flak.

I guess that DU is not the place to vent all of your anxieties. Only the ones that are anti-Republican. Live and learn. I have.

[Demo_Chris]

48. It's all good, I am not holding out for universal approval. nt

[Donald Ian Rankin]

44. Because it places them in bad company, and some people can't be bothered to discriminate.

A lot of conservatives are saying "The ACA website was a clusterfuck, and therefore the programme is a bad thing".

Liberals who make the - entirely correct and reasonable - point that, even though the programme is a good thing, the launch of the website was indeed a clusterfuck (although I believe it's slowly improving?) are therefor rubbing shoulders with some very unpleasant bedfellows.

And some lazy thinkers upbraid them for that.

[kestrel91316]

54. Oh. You again.

[1000words]

56. It is the drone's purpose to protect the queen, at all costs.

Poke the hive, expect a swarm.

[gulliver]

58. Don't pick up hitchhikers...

...on dark nights who are picking their teeth with hunting knives. Seriously, you really will be an angel then. Safety first.

Ok, now for the posters you are talking about. I hope you don't mean to say that anonymous posters who assert negative "facts" about a Democratic program should simply be trusted. I hope you don't assume their defenders are to be trusted either. Sorry, but that is just so naive and devoid of critical thinking skills that it amounts to "anti-liberalism by incompetence."

[Vashta Nerada]

59. The MN exchange site absolutely sucked.

I couldn't sign up for weeks.

But they finally fixed it on Monday and I was able to sign up for medical insurance with no problems.

[davidn3600]

61. Same with the Snowden thing for awhile

At first, people on here who defended Snowden or criticized the NSA in any way were labeled tea baggers, anti-American, or even traitors. What's really funny is how those NSA-supporters were actually in 100% agreement with guys like Karl Rove and other neo-cons.

It's not sexy to criticize anything the government does while a "D" is in the White House. If a Republican wins in 2016, it will change very quickly. Then you will be permitted to trash the government to your heart's content.

[Th1onein]

63. There's too much negativity here, period.

But God help you if you step out of the line and say anything negative about our president or his policies.

[JTFrog]

77. Awwww....

Bless your heart.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

71. The site is worse than anyone here has said. I have a list w/ screenshots with

countless usability issues even as the site begins more and more to work as intended. I hate the fact that this gives the RW something real to bitch about, but I am not keeping quiet. It is shockingly poorly designed.

[ProSense]

75. I don't know, I think

it's pretty good.

Wow! Healthcare.gov Has A Waiting Room

by hungrycoyote

I have some free time this afternoon and decided to go ahead and select my healthcare plan. I've already completed the application process, and just need to choose a plan and pay my premium. To my amazement, when I arrived at healthcare.gov this is what greeted me when I clicked the LOG IN link:



There is also an alert on the frontpage of healthcare.gov that states:

During times of especially high demand, you may be queued to begin your online Marketplace application to ensure the best possible shopping experience.

Color me impressed. I don't ever recall going to a site and being told we have so many people here right now that you'll need to wait your turn. Usually if there are too many people on a site, it just crashes.

I've kept the page open and can tell that approximately every 60 seconds it reloads as if it is checking to see if there is room to let me in yet. In the 10 minutes it took me to put together this diary, my wait ended. The screen just switched to the Log In page and I was able to log in without any further delay.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/10/1261662/-Wow-Healthcare-gov-Has-A-Waiting-Room

Republican nightmare begins: Obamacare is 'a godsend' for people getting coverage
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024157845

[Th1onein]

80. It's better designed than any RW site I've seen.

I think it works pretty well, actually. It bothers me, though, that sometimes people here are rude. We're Democrats, and supposed to be tolerant. That's what the Ignore feature is for, though.

[backscatter712]

87. I'm not concerned about the web site anymore.

The worst problems with the site have already been fixed.

For most people, the site works.

Sure, there will be glitches here and there, but those will be taken care of.

A few weeks ago, it was considered the Harbinger of Doom for President Obama, the Democratic Party, and Obamacare. That prognostication seems to have fizzled.

It's no longer an effective political football for the right wing, so I say let the IT guys handle it.

[darkangel218]

88. People are still encountering problems and are unable to complete the process.

What do you have to say to them?

[backscatter712]

90. Talk to the IT department - they're working on it. n/t

[MadrasT]

89. Apparently if you have any trouble you are supposed to shut up, smile,

and pretend every thing is hunky-dory because Obama.

Or something.