Another day without a crash for HealthCare.gov and more stories about how the site is working for most people. The site has had a few glitches and a few frustrations. For example, some are being held up while their eligibility for Medicaid is determined, even though they've already applied for and been denied Medicaid. There's also a hold up for naturalized citizens who have to have their documentation verified. These are pretty much unavoidable bureaucratic delays that are required under the law, but on the technical side, it's been functioning pretty well. Officials say that 112,000 people selected plans in the first week of December, compared to 100,000 throughout November.
With technical problems subsiding, the narrative is changing and it's all about how thrilled these new customers are.
“I was hearing so much about the glitches in the system that I was worried that it wouldn’t work,” said Caroline Moseley, 54, who lost her job as a housing program analyst for the City of Philadelphia. After asking a navigator from the nonprofit Resources for Human Development for help in finding a plan, Ms. Moseley chose one that costs $27 a month with a $6,000 deductible. “It was a great experience,” she said. “The site was running very smoothly. It took about 30 minutes tops.”
Stephanie Lincoln, 60, of Lansdowne, Pa., also had quick success with the exchange — after a frustrating experience trying to submit an application online in October and November. With the help of a navigator, Caroline Picher, working at the local library, Ms. Lincoln signed up in just one hour on Friday for a policy that will cost $113 a month, with no deductible.
“I am one of the people whose plans were canceled,” Ms. Lincoln said. “It was just the easiest thing in the world.”
And there's
this story about JoAnn Smith, who actually works in the medical field as a transcriptionist, but has been uninsured.
It'll only cost her $3.19 a month to cover herself and her husband.
"I just instantly burst into tears," she says.
Smith still needs to call Humana, the insurer she picked, and confirm her eligibility and payments. This is the part that will break your heart: "I am kind of afraid to call them because I feel like it's a trick. I am afraid I will call and they will say 'JoAnn who?'" This from someone in the medical field! This is what the existing insurance industry has created; a public that doesn't believe there isn't some hidden new trick the insurance company is going to pull to screw you out of care.
It's going to take a while to sink in with the uninsured who are able to get coverage that there won't be a trick and that they will get coverage. It's also going to sink in with the people in red states who are being denied coverage through expanded Medicaid that they are being unfairly punished so that their governors and legislatures can make a political point. Obamacare could be a real political issue in 2014, but not the one Republicans were counting on.