A friend of mine reported to me yesterday that he had heard some good news about the Obamacare web sites. According to the report he had heard, it will soon be possible to go on the site and look at available insurance policies without first signing up for an account. Let's think about that news together.
1. Let's start with the current structure. In order to use the federal exchange which covers about three quarters of the states (the other states have their own exchanges), you first need to establish an account. That means that before you do anything else, you need to report you name, family members, social security numbers, address, phone number, employment details, and all sorts of other confidential information with the government. Even better, once you supply all this information, you can never delete it.
Let's stop here for the moment. Much of the information we are talking about is currently in the possession of the government. The IRS in particular has nearly all of the information in question. Of course, the IRS also has extremely strict limitations set by law on what it can do with the information. Indeed, it is these very laws that make most of the actions taken by the IRS in the current IRS scandals into criminal acts. The protections for the information supplied in the healthcare exchanges are nowhere near as strict as those for information given to the IRS.
So, the geniuses who designed the federal site decided that before a person can even look to see what insurance is available, he or she has first to provide on a permanent basis all sorts of confidential information with which the government can basically do whatever it wants.
2. No rational system would require a user to establish an account prior to using the system. Clearly, supplying all that information will discourage people from using the site. If the goal is to promote the purchase of insurance, one should want to make the site easy to use and inviting, rather than erecting obstacles to use. If I were to go on any retail site on the net, I feel confident that I could make a purchase as a "guest" and not be required to establish an account at all. Why couldn't the federal government allow the same thing to happen for those who are not seeking subsidies? There is just no reason other than that they wanted to get as much information on the public as they could.
3. The sites are being changed so that accounts are no longer needed to look at the insurance available, although no purchase will be possible without an account. So did they come to their senses? Nope! What has happened is that the federal website is unable to process and establish accounts about 90% of the time. This has led to a torrent of criticism. After all, literally tens of thousands of sites have mechanisms to establish accounts. There is no reason why the feds cannot get that portion of the site to work. So, in an effort to diffuse that criticism, the feds are planning to let folks look for insurance without having an account.
Remember, though, that no one will be able to purchase insurance without an account. In simple terms, it means that the change will not remove the needs for the federal government to fix the site so that people can finally open accounts.
My prediction is that the site will continue to be plagued with problems. Most likely, in a few weeks president Obama will announce that there is a one year delay in the individual mandate as a result of the website failures. In other words, Obama will finally do what the GOP has been demanding.
1. Let's start with the current structure. In order to use the federal exchange which covers about three quarters of the states (the other states have their own exchanges), you first need to establish an account. That means that before you do anything else, you need to report you name, family members, social security numbers, address, phone number, employment details, and all sorts of other confidential information with the government. Even better, once you supply all this information, you can never delete it.
Let's stop here for the moment. Much of the information we are talking about is currently in the possession of the government. The IRS in particular has nearly all of the information in question. Of course, the IRS also has extremely strict limitations set by law on what it can do with the information. Indeed, it is these very laws that make most of the actions taken by the IRS in the current IRS scandals into criminal acts. The protections for the information supplied in the healthcare exchanges are nowhere near as strict as those for information given to the IRS.
So, the geniuses who designed the federal site decided that before a person can even look to see what insurance is available, he or she has first to provide on a permanent basis all sorts of confidential information with which the government can basically do whatever it wants.
2. No rational system would require a user to establish an account prior to using the system. Clearly, supplying all that information will discourage people from using the site. If the goal is to promote the purchase of insurance, one should want to make the site easy to use and inviting, rather than erecting obstacles to use. If I were to go on any retail site on the net, I feel confident that I could make a purchase as a "guest" and not be required to establish an account at all. Why couldn't the federal government allow the same thing to happen for those who are not seeking subsidies? There is just no reason other than that they wanted to get as much information on the public as they could.
3. The sites are being changed so that accounts are no longer needed to look at the insurance available, although no purchase will be possible without an account. So did they come to their senses? Nope! What has happened is that the federal website is unable to process and establish accounts about 90% of the time. This has led to a torrent of criticism. After all, literally tens of thousands of sites have mechanisms to establish accounts. There is no reason why the feds cannot get that portion of the site to work. So, in an effort to diffuse that criticism, the feds are planning to let folks look for insurance without having an account.
Remember, though, that no one will be able to purchase insurance without an account. In simple terms, it means that the change will not remove the needs for the federal government to fix the site so that people can finally open accounts.
My prediction is that the site will continue to be plagued with problems. Most likely, in a few weeks president Obama will announce that there is a one year delay in the individual mandate as a result of the website failures. In other words, Obama will finally do what the GOP has been demanding.
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