I feel like people making comments about the United States' Healthcare.gov and whether or not it's finally been "fixed" are missing a bigger story.
Who cares if you can load the website and sign up for plans when the information it is giving you is flat wrong?
For example, today I've been looking over the dental plans. Â While verifying plan information with various insurance companies I find that the information about the plans given by healthcare.gov is just incorrect, and not in minor ways.
For example, there are two Anthem BCBS dental plans that have identical out-of-pocket maximum figures that Anthem agents tell me are wrong by 40%.
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Since every horror story I've seen about Obamacare has been debunked I'm going to venture you've missed something. Does it make a difference if you sign up through the web site or purchase direct from a salesman on commission?
Oh man, if you want a horror story about healthcare.gov I can tell you how I've been on the phone for 20 hours hours since December 3rd plus umpteen hours trying to complete our application. Â I've had little problem ever logging in or using the actual site.
But no, I don't believe I've missed anything. Â I've had two different Anthem agents tell me straight out that the information on healthcare.gov is not correct comparing apples to apples.
I can go on and on with various inaccuracies. Â A couple more I've encountered in the past 30 minutes:Â
* Â Links to PPO directories for Anthem leads to pages that don't list the exact plan on the exchange. Â They DO list plans that are named very similarly, but have completely different networks. Â The exchange PPO network is actually much more limited than the similar-sounding network you find on Anthem's directory. Â
* BEST Life Dental PPO directory links to an error page.
Good luck then. Doesn't sound like fun
I can't remember ever getting correct information about my plans, going back decades, and I can't count the number of mistakes we've had to fight since back when. No reason to believe Anthem reps any more than healthcare.gov. For all I know, healthcare.gov and the reps are getting different info from unreconciled databases. Health industry IT is second only to local government in ineptitude.
Sounds like healthcare.gov is putting a spotlight on an industry that is built on obfuscation and customer ignorance. Â Health insurance has always been a what-you-get-is-what-I-give-you business. Â Trying to standardize such a system is a very difficult engineering task because inevitably, it becomes a political task of actually changing the field, not getting the 'facts' straight.
Having built a few computer systems that need to reflect the real world, I can tell you that it quickly chases to the light places where the real world has not single value of truth and the politics gets you running in circles.