An Adventure in Healthcare: All In All It's Just Another Brick In the Wall

For the last two weeks, I have been patiently trying to enroll in the Healthcare Marketplace with some success.  I made a conscious decision not to try to hard the first days the Marketplace was open to enrollment.  I knew that things would not run smoothly and I was right.  So how has my adventure been since then?

Lots of work to do; that is an understatement!

I tried each day to begin the sign up process.  I got the same image on my screen as so many other people.  What I eventually realized is that if I left the window opened, it would refresh itself until I got the to the next step.  But this was what I will call a brick in the wall that I could not knock down.  It took until the beginning of last week before I got to the screen where I was able to begin the enrollment process. So where am I now in this new adventure?

Getting started makes you hopeful that this will finally work!

 When I saw the "Let's Get Started" screen I had a sense of accomplishment...I finally got somewhere and I could see that it was definitely better than it was day one.  Once I got here things seemed to work pretty well.  I entered my personal information....name, address, phone number, email address....and all was going pretty well.  One brick taken out of the wall on my way to a clear path. Until.....

Security questions...what security questions?

Well, the security questions were not populated....that means they just weren't there to answer.  The drop down menus clearly have a problem that needed to be fixed...and they were.  Within a day or two I went back and the questions were there to choose from.  Another hurdle.  Another brick that was taken down.  This allowed me to finish adding the information needed to enroll...my family information, who I needed to get insurance for, who lives in my home, who I will claim on my taxes...you know, the information the government will be collecting in order to fulfill the mandate.  (Yes, I know that's what they are doing and I fully agree forcing people is not the best way to do this...but this is what the law says right now so I will abide by the law.)  And now?

The log-in screen!

I can now log in and get to the next screen, which for me is a verification screen.  My identity needs to be verified, which I tried to do but failed.  Not sure why it failed as I entered the requested information exactly like it asked and I answered the security questions with the correct answers.  I was asked to send by email a scan of one form of identification, so I scanned my driver's license and sent it along post haste.  That was yesterday.  I have not gotten an email saying that I am verified so I cannot go any further until I get that email.  One more brick in the wall that is being stubborn and refusing to move.  So now what?
 

Again I will be patient and wait until I can remove this brick.  I know that some people out there may not understand how I can be so willing to wait or how I could possibly think this will ever work or even be reasonable health care if it does work.  People are so willing to castigate the system without even allowing it to work.  I am just not ready to say it is a failure.  I will keep trying and will see what this system has to offer me.  Hopefully it will be something I can afford, or maybe for the moment I will be subsidized since I am currently not employed.  Hopefully there won't be very large deductibles like the stories have been saying.  I don't know what I am going to run into...I just know I am going to keep trying and keep an open mind.  That's all I can do. 

Government Shut-downs, Senate Lunatics, and Texas Politicians

Last week, the Republican controlled House of Representatives passed a bill that would keep the government running until mid-December.  The catch is, it de-funds the Affordable Care Act.  This was the brainstorm of the likes of Rand Paul and Ted Cruz (R Senator).

This was the 40th voted to try to undo the ACA, and it will be no more successful than the other 39.  For it to work, the Democratic controlled Senate would have to pass the bill in it's present state and then President Obama would have to sign the bill....like that is going to happen.  So why are these lunatic Senators wasting time trying to get a bill passed that will never be signed in to law?

Their hope is that if the bill fails, the government will shut down and then the blame can be put on the Democrats.  They must think the American public is really stupid.  Ted Cruz has no way to get the GOP out of this mess when it implodes on him - and the party brass know that.  They know it so well that they threw him under the bus when he was announced as a guest on Chris Wallace's show on faux news Sunday.

Wallace said that he received numerous emails from GOP members who gave him opposition research to nail Cruz to the wall.  He used the information very well.  I watched the segment....you can watch it HERE.  Cruz said that the Senate should pass the bill with a 60 vote majority instead of the 51 votes that are needed according to Senate Rule 22.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will never agree to change the votes needed for this.  Cruz has backed himself into a corner and has no way to get out. He still thinks he will though and he still thinks he can put the blame on the Democrats.

Of course this is the same man who believes that his ACTUAL Canadian birth should not rule him out of running for President, but that President Obama's ACTUAL Hawaiian birth should get him kicked out of office.  This is what Texas sends to Congress.  Of course, we also elected Perry governor 4 times....well I didn't. 

I need to move to a blue state.  Quickly.