The Oct. 1 launch of the federal Affordable Care Act’s health care insurance exchange in Maine was far from smooth. Indeed, the website – healthcare.gov – malfunctioned all day.
“Unfortunately, our website is actually having issues,” said a HealthCare.gov service representative who identified herself as Nellie. Technical service was called after attempts to register for the exchange online failed due to computer glitches.
“Our website has been down all day,” said Nellie. “We haven’t been able to do applications all day.”
Nellie had no idea when the exchange – a critical aspect of President Obama’s controversial health care law – would be working.
“We do not have a definite time frame,” she said. “You can keep going back in and trying.”
As for a cause of the malfunction, she said: “Pretty sure it’s because everybody is trying to get in there and do something.”
MSNBC attempted to demonstrate how Americans can sign up for coverage via the exchange, but had to cancel the endeavor after meeting several road blocks.
UPDATE: On Friday – Day 4 of the Obamacare exchange roll out – the online health care site is still completely unworkable. No word yet when it will be functional. On an unrelated note: Who made this handy graphic (below) if the federal government is shut down?
This story will be updated.
S.E. Robinson
Maine Wire Reporter
serobinson@themainewire.com
Comments