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Capitol Hill staffers hit errors galore as they try to sign up for ObamaCare
Hotair ^ | 12/07/2013 | Mary Katherine Ham

Posted on 12/07/2013 10:36:29 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, Hill staffers!

Capitol Hill staffers are hitting multiple obstacles in trying to enroll in the Obamacare exchange just days before the federal government’s deadline for getting coverage.

They and lawmakers have until Monday to sign up on DC Health Link, the District’s insurance exchange, if they want to maintain the government’s generous employer contribution to their health insurance.

But as crunch time approaches, Democratic and Republican staffers are getting error messages, denials, notices that they’re enrolled in multiple plans and incomplete confirmation — as well as a website that went down briefly Thursday.

Officials at DC Health Link say that they are working quickly to fix each problem. But the snags are causing a lot of frustration and grief.

I feel for anyone who has to go through this process who didn’t have a direct hand in passing this thing. As for the true believers, it is quite useful to have them experience exactly what the rest of America is going through. And, this is what that looks like:

wpid-Screen-Shot-2013-12-06-at-9.16.25-AM

We are in the best of hands.

Rep. John Boehner’s journey through the system has been well documented. It took him 3-4 hours to find out his premiums will double and his co-pays and deductible tripled.

“I’m thrilled to death, as you can tell.”

An amendment to the Affordable Care Act required federal lawmakers and their personal staff to forfeit their government-sponsored health care plans and enroll in state-based insurance exchanges. The goal was to make lawmakers experience what many Americans face in the individual marketplace.

But with the enrollment deadline looming, the complaints are growing louder — and are aimed particularly at the D.C. small-business exchange that members of Congress are supposed to enroll in.

The D.C. exchange’s log-in tool experienced technical difficulties Thursday morning.

“Sigh. I was just in the middle of signing up,” the chief of staff for Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, tweeted in response to an internal Senate email about the hiccup.

Sen. Ted Cruz’s speechwriter and communications adviser Amanda Carpenter has also been tweeting her experiences. She went to a physical DC Health Link help line offered for staffers after her first online attempt failed.

There was no one there:

This is a photo of no one from DC health link being here to help us, as promised, at 10am. http://t.co/8OOO0F3Dwv

— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) December 3, 2013

The metaphor is apt but that doesn’t make it fun for Amanda, who would like to stay insured. How long before Obama decides he can waive this part of the law?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: healthcaregov; obamacare

1 posted on 12/07/2013 10:36:29 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

“Your session got expired”

Huh? Is the website in ebonics?


2 posted on 12/07/2013 10:46:39 AM PST by raybbr (I weep over my sons' future in this Godforsaken country.)
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To: raybbr

Lol. That’s so bad even I cringed. And I ain’t no English major.


3 posted on 12/07/2013 10:50:33 AM PST by ToastedHead
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To: raybbr

I’ve seen several screen prints of error message where the grammer was terrible. It isn’t just one screen.


4 posted on 12/07/2013 10:51:56 AM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: SeekAndFind
Revealed: How a simple spelling error helped bring down $630 million Obamacare website
5 posted on 12/07/2013 10:54:10 AM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: SeekAndFind
WHERE DID THE OBAMACARE WEBSITE DOUGH GO?????

Hannity recently had two PROFESSIONAL web site developers on his TV show. He asked them both how much they might have charged to construct a secure web site that functioned as necessary from the git go: Their TOP figure was around $10 million!!

That's much more than one well respected US IT firm offered to do the project for: THEY'D HAVE DONE IT FOR FREE!!

Compare those to the estimated $1 BILLION this SOB has shuttled to his cronies for this turkey and I think even the most devoted obozo worshiper can grasp the magnitude of the CORRUPTION in this on-going CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE!!! (Well that's almost certainly an overstatement...)

QUESTION: WHERE THE HELL IS CONGRESS IN ALL OF THIS?

ANSWER: On their computers checking their numbered Swiss accounts to be certain the proper amount was deposited!!!!

IF THIS DOESN'T P.I.S.S. Y.O.U. O.F.F. you aren't paying attention and you're certainly too stupid to vote.

We need an angry electoral tsunami to sweep the parasites on the regular, COMMON SENSE citizens who have READ and UNDERSTAND the CONSTITUTION!! Anything short of that and we're TOAST!!


6 posted on 12/07/2013 10:58:01 AM PST by Dick Bachert (Ignorance is NOT BLISS. It is the ROAD TO SERFDOM! We're on a ROAD TRIP!!)
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To: raybbr

This whole fiasco just shows what trouble our country is in.
Pathetic.


7 posted on 12/07/2013 11:03:46 AM PST by sheana
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To: SeekAndFind

Hee hee. It was the staffers who actually wrote this monster piece of legislation.


8 posted on 12/07/2013 11:41:58 AM PST by lurk
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To: SeekAndFind

Hee hee. It was the staffers who actually wrote this monster piece of legislation.


9 posted on 12/07/2013 11:42:07 AM PST by lurk
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To: lurk

I hope they all get sick and have no coverage, and that hope includes their families.


10 posted on 12/07/2013 11:51:15 AM PST by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: SeekAndFind
There's a reason that "eating our own dog food" is a standard in the IT industry. You want to field a new email UI? Fine, Skippy, run your company on it first. And they do.

Not, of course, the federal government, one of whose signal occupations is making certain its members do NOT have to eat their own dog food. Exemptions, better plans, special rules for special people: it's a major design flaw in the U.S. federal government and they put it there themselves.

11 posted on 12/07/2013 11:55:39 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: raybbr

Amazing...


12 posted on 12/07/2013 11:59:28 AM PST by Gator113 ( Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin and Mike Lee speak for me, most everyone else is just noise.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Schadenfreude we much....


13 posted on 12/07/2013 12:19:09 PM PST by clintonh8r (Don't twerk me, Bro!)
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To: raybbr

I thought ‘expired’ was spelled ‘expiret.’

It’s really goot that these political appointees are spelling better than they speak.


14 posted on 12/07/2013 12:25:51 PM PST by Right Wing Assault
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To: raybbr

I axed the same question...


15 posted on 12/07/2013 3:32:29 PM PST by bobby.223 (Retired up in the snowy mountains of the American Redoubt and it's a GREAT life!)
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