Poll: Few Visited Exchange Sites To Actually Shop For Health Care

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

TOM KLUDT – OCTOBER 22, 2013, 11:27 AM EDT

A majority of visitors to the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchange websites went out of curiosity, not to shop for insurance, according to findings released Monday from Pew Research Center.

Fifty-eight percent said they went to the websites to learn more about the exchanges, while 32 percent said they were browsing for options for either themselves or their families. Twenty-two percent of those who are uninsured said they have already visited the websites, and another 42 percent said they intend to visit.

Obama administration officials told the Associated Press that about 476,000 applications have been filed through the federal or state exchanges, but the White House remains cagey about actual enrollment figures.

:::snip::: (one sentence)

According to Pew, 56 percent of the visitors found the website very or fairly easy to use compared with 40 percent who said it was very or fairly difficult to use. Forty-six percent of all Americans said said the online health exchanges are not working well, compared with 29 percent who said they are.





Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-few-visited-exchange-sites-to-actually-shop-for-health-care

[seabeckind]

1. One of my emails to a friend ...

As I read about the ACA functionality (or lack of), I'm amazed that it worked as well as it did. Ignoring the idea of hundreds of programmers wandering around with little in the way of specifications for their individual tasks, it was a moving target. The original idea of the fed site was as a gateway to state exchanges -- basically collect some info for the fed tracking -- then pass off to the state. The states also had the provisions for their own web sites as a front door that didn't need the fed (KY's worked very well). In any case, a whole bunch of potential interfaces, each needing a verification.

Then add in the idea that a state could opt out (like Indiana) and the fed would have to take over the exchange function for that state, considering each state's idiosyncracies like medicaid (or lack of, like Indiana), and then adding in the idea that many of the states were dragging their feet and refusing to provide the rules for their choices until the very last minute... Of course states like Indiana bitched about how the part that they refused to do didn't work (duh) and so the whole thing should be thrown out. There's definitely some stuff in Indiana that doesn't work for people and should be thrown out -- Pence is probably the biggest chunk in our cesspool.

I'm amazed.

State's rights. The right to be as ignorant and assholish as they choose. Not only to the fed but even to their own people. And their own people are so dam stupid they don't even know when they're being screwed by their nearby gov't.

[grantcart]

2. "cagey about actual enrollment figures"

A person doesn't become "actually enrolled" into an insurance plan until the first month premium is paid. Those premiums are not due until December. The number of people actually enrolled at this point would be zero, we won't know the initial number until January 1st.

[Igel]

7. And yet they had no trouble understanding each other.

That's the term that the Obama admin rep used. "Enrolled." If they don't have a clue what they're saying because they don't use the right terms, well, that's just not a very flattering inference.

However, to show how shifting and imprecise the language was, later the same statement characterized the number of applications "filed" as the number of applications "begun."

So perhaps the inference drawn was a mite too flattering.

[underpants]

3. New Hampshire 2002-esque?

Just asking

[SoapBox]

4. And just say'n...

While actual coverage can begin as early as January 1, 2014, the open enrollment continues until March 31, 2014. There is actually
over 5 months yet to get enrolled.

SO...yes, I'm sure that many folks would like to get set up for January 1st but...the Admin. and HHS has at least a couple
of months to get this really working. IF after about December 1, 2013 it's still not working, then I will begin to seriously
question what is going on.

ANY rollout of such a massive project is going to be buggy. Too bad the limp media won't say that.

"According to Pew, .....Forty-six percent of all Americans said the online health exchanges are not working well, compared with 29 percent who said they are."

Really? Of ALL Americans? Serious? I doubt that number, since many Americans are dumb as dirt these days and probably don't
even have a clue what is going on in the world, beyond their texting and video games.

[bobGandolf]

5. Well, you have to figure....

a good 25% would say it wasn't working even if they didn't try.

[NoOneMan]

6. Then why has .16% of the population already signed up for mandated care?

Its a wild success. People love shopping at marketplaces, doncha know?

[brooklynite]

8. I suspect a fair number did what I did...

...tried the system out to see if the problems were as reported, but already had insurance so had no intent to purchase.

[mimi85]

9. I did the same thing

and I wonder why people won't just print out the forms and use snail mail. If I was looking for insurance and things were backed up, that's what I would do. It just seems logical.

[WeekendWarrior]

10. I don't trust reporting that uses words like "cagey"

Cagey is a loaded word with specific connotations, suggesting that the White House is trying to hide something. It isn't a reporter's job to infer anything. They're merely there to report.

How about, "The White House did not give a definitive answer as to the actual enrollment figures."

I hate reporting today.