Healthcare.gov Problems and the “Launch” of Obamacare

Obamacare has been harried, ambushed and attacked from the first moment it was announced, receiving almost relentless criticism from members of the Republican party, and even from within the Democratic party itself. When Obamacare did finally launch in 2013, despite the Republican Party shutting down the Federal Government in protest, the troubles besetting it weren't quite over.

The final straw for the remaining fans of The Affordable Care Act came about when the Healthcare.gov website crashed on the first morning of the official launch of Obamacare, leaving tens of thousands of people unable to register for their new healthcare plans, and tens of thousands more floating in a state of digital limbo with their registrations simply "stuck" for more than 24-hours.

Since then the POTUS has assured people that when Healthcare.gov is back online that it will be "functional for the vast majority of people", supporting around 50,000 simultaneous users at any one time. The problem is that nobody can know if that claim is true or not until the site goes back online and actually connects people with the healthcare plans they've been waiting so long for.

In addition to the problems facing the government in relation to the launch of Obamacare there's also the small issue that healthcare companies expected a flood of new business during the launch, but then again it's very difficult to redirect eager customers to new healthcare plans when your entire website is down for maintenance. That being said those same insurance companies should now be seeing the dramatic increase in the new customers they've been eagerly expecting.

The biggest worry most people have about Obamacare is that it's a cynical ploy by Obama to regulate and control the entire healthcare insurance industry but there's also another way to view Obamacare in this regard. The reality is that private healthcare exchanges existed for a long, long time before Obama's new public healthcare exchanges did, and in an ideal world they would actually exist side-by-side. Why? Well the private exchanges still offer a wide range of healthcare products, and generally at a lower cost, which leaves people with the option to choose the plan which suits their own personal and financial circumstances the best. 

In addition to this the competition between private and public healthcare exchanges also means that you can compare the merits and features of different plans, giving you a better consumer experience overall. Obviously lots of people are saying that the Obamacare healthcare plans are far worse than those offered by private exchanges, but its worth remembering that it may be a populist move to simply attack something Obama does. If nothing else history has shown us that when it comes to new ideas, there’s no such thing as short history, and therefore it will take some time for Obamacare will prove whether it works or not.

In terms of the plans available under Obamacare there are four: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. So for example a bronze healthcare plan means that 60% of your healthcare expenses are covered by your plan, but you need to pay for the additional 40% yourself, whereas a platinum plan covers at least 90% of your medical expenses, leaving you to pick up just 10% of your overall healthcare tab.

It's still very early days for Obamacare and Healthcare.gov, so the jury is still out for the time being...or at least we're trying to stay "out" to remain as impartial as possible on the subject.