Has anybody here been able to get a quote in the federal insurance exchange?

I've been trying since it (supposedly) went live on October 1st, and so far, haven't gotten much further than creating an account. I've tried the live chat help (they had no idea and suggested that I try the 1-800 number) and the 1-800 number (they reported that whatever is preventing the website from working is not letting them enter anything in the database, either). Apparently whoever created the site did not anticipate that anyone would contact the technical support for help with actual technical failures.

So, has anyone had better luck than I did? If so, how did the rates and policies you can find there compare to what's available through an agent, or by contacting insurance companies directly?

Haven't even tried.

haven't tried .... hoping that my former co. doesn't butt rape us when open enrollment come around in another couple of weeks ... I'll eat the cost of COBRA 'til May. then go on Medicare ... probably with a supplement

I read that 5 people in Iowa successfully managed to register.

Great success!

Swank Force One wrote: I read that 5 people in Iowa successfully managed to register. Great success!

RACIST!!!

And think the web site only took $650 million to create!

z31maniac wrote: And think the web site only took $650 million to create!

Yeah, but that's not real money. That's just taxpayer dollars.

It's either anti-healthcare people DDOSing the system, or the demand is so high that the servers can't take it...

Knurled wrote: It's either anti-healthcare people DDOSing the system, or the demand is so high that the servers can't take it...

Both of which a competent site administrator should have anticipated and planned for. I would have planned around 5-10 million visitors in the first day plus some sort of politically minded hacker attack, and designed and load tested the site for it. The site admin should have tried to make a bulletproof site, then made backup plans in case it was hit with armor piercing rounds.

They also failed to give their support people any instructions beyond "Tell them to try back later" if they get called by someone experiencing technical difficulties, other than one of the chat support people erroneously telling me that when the site was down, the phone support people should be able to enter my data by hand. Which they SHOULD have been able to do, but couldn't. Seriously - they didn't have any sort of plan for offline data entry in the event of a server crash, such as having phone support people enter data into some sort of offline database or even Excel spreadsheets for later merging with the main database.

There's articles in which private designers critiqued the site and it's pretty much just garbage.

The wife has been trying since the 1st. No luck yet.

One more quality government product.

Datsun1500 wrote:

Knurled wrote: It's either anti-healthcare people DDOSing the system, or the demand is so high that the servers can't take it...

Or it's broken government crap

Running on Server 2003.

Swank Force One wrote: There's articles in which private designers critiqued the site and it's pretty much just garbage.

Sounds about right........I'm surprised when people called the hotline they didn't answer "Welcome to Costco, I love you" before dribbling over the phone to hang up.

Yah know, I don't lean towards either party. I actually like the idea of federal care. It can be advantageous.

BUT, The above is exactly why it is a poor idea in the U.S. Not that the concept of a national system is bad, I just knew we would totally screw it up. It's not one side or the other, it's the entire government to blame.
(or us to blame for putting them there)

Sad......

-Rob

poopshovel wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: I read that 5 people in Iowa successfully managed to register. Great success!

RACIST!!!

Poopshovel you are a RACIST for pointing out Swank Force One's racism!

The hate on this board is neverending!

rob_lewis wrote: Yah know, I don't lean towards either party. I actually like the idea of federal care. It can be advantageous. BUT, The above is exactly why it is a poor idea in the U.S. Not that the concept of a national system is bad, I just knew we would totally screw it up. It's not one side or the other, it's the entire government to blame. (or us to blame for putting them there) Sad...... -Rob

I generally don't care for the "side" thing, as none of those berkeleyers are on my "side." But this one's pretty berkeleying cut & dry. Democrats grabbed control over our healthcare at all costs. Republicans fought (and are fighting) tooth & nail. GREAT strategic grab for the dems. Seriously. "Get the control first - we'll figure out the rest later."

They'll figure out how to convince dumb-masses that this is somehow GWB or "THUH WUN PURCENT'S" fault, and we'll continue on our path to impending doom.

I'm gonna go beat some virtual hookers to death now.

I just qualified for share of cost so I dont have to worry for awhile, thank god.

Knurled wrote: It's either anti-healthcare people DDOSing the system, or the demand is so high that the servers can't take it...

Yeah, they definitely had no idea how many people would try to sign up and could have built the web site for the traffic......especially at the insane cost.

But keep holding out hope!

Jaxmadine wrote: I just qualified for share of cost so I dont have to worry for awhile, thank god.

You're Welcome

Aren't these websites state specific?

California seems to be working fine. Maybe your states are just hack.

aircooled wrote: Aren't these websites state specific? California seems to be working fine. Maybe your states are just hack.

No...

Try again, (left) coastie.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/05/us-usa-healthcare-technology-analysis-idUSBRE99407T20131005

So is everyone supposed to be trying to get on these sites, or just people without insurance? From what others have been saying I hate to see what my costs will go up to.

moparman76_69 wrote: So is everyone supposed to be trying to get on these sites, or just people without insurance? From what others have been saying I hate to see what my costs will go up to.

The exchanges are for people who don't currently get insurance through their place of employment.

I've been researching and have heard only about 51,000 people in the nation signed up for UDCA (UnaffordableDon'tCareAct) in the first week. Sorry to hear you guys are having problems. Even Wolf Blitzer and John Stewart are slightly waking up.

Healthcare.gov = $634M

Facebook operated for 6 year until June of 2010 before they exceed $600M in development costs. By that time they had twice as many users as there are men, women, and children in the whole United States.