Harry Reid on the ACA signups

[B2G]

Seriously Harry?


“We have hundreds of thousands of people who tried to sign up who didn’t get through,” he said. “There are some people who are not like my grandchildren who can handle everything so easily on the Internet, and these people need a little extra time. It’s not — the example they gave us is a 63-year-old woman came into the store and said, ‘I almost got it. Every time I just about got there, it would cut me off.’ We have a lot of people just like this through no fault of the Internet, but because people are not educated on how to use the Internet.”

[yeoman6987]

1. Why on Earth did he find it necessary to say anything?

I never understand why they just extend the deadline, release a media report and be done.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Make the revelation of truth routine? Like..ah..adults???

And let all that lovely propaganda machinery go to waste????

[Jesus Malverde]

2. One wonders if the computer literacy problems aren't with Harry.

Its not smart to blame the user who was trying to use an incomplete application.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Honest. Software sucking had nothing to do with it. Gotcha chief...

((Memories realligned)). Ahh...much better.

[brush]

4. He might be referring to the huge screw-up with Nevada Health Link

That's Nevada's health care exchange which has had even more problems with its web site roll out than the ACA did.

And it hasn't gotten fixed in a month like the ACA site did.

This is all presided over by repug Gov. Sandoval and is still on-going after months. But you won't hear anything about it on FOX or the mainstream media even.

There are thousands of people in Nevada trying to sign up and if it had been up and running correctly it would have boosted the ACA figures even higher than the 5 million and counting.

Reid was probably referring to constituents problems with getting signed up on the site.

[B2G]

5. Then blame it on the software

not the people trying to use it. He specifically said that the issue was with people not knowing how to use the internet.

Which is not only insulting, it's laughable.

[brush]

6. It's probably both

There are definite tech problems with Nevada Health Link but we know that some older people are not that comfortable or familiar with computer input protocols.

I workout at a Y in Vegas and they still have regularly scheduled computer class for people — mostly seniors.

[B2G]

8. Based on the number of folks who had issues

with applying by phone or getting paper apps through, it all circles back to the software.

Those manual apps couldn't be processed because of that. The Navigators couldn't enter the data for them and get it to work either.

Reid's assertions are flat out wrong. I don't know who he thinks he's fooling.

[MineralMan]

9. He has a point. All of us here are pretty familiar

with using websites, but that's not true for a lot of people out there. Plus, if the website is buggy or poorly designed, it can be tough for people to figure out. I watched my wife work through the Minnesota site. She's been writing about the Internet and computing since 1984, and for major publications. It was a frustrating process, even for her.

Website design is difficult, especially if you're not use to designing sites for people unfamiliar with the concept of websites in the first place. And even people who use websites frequently still have difficulties with some websites. The Internet is full of people asking questions about problems they're having.

So, Harry Reid is right in some ways about this. A more robust human-based help system was needed at the beginning of this whole thing, and more testing with a broad range of potential users and capabilities was needed.

Things have gotten better, but a lot of the people who really need ACA are struggling to get through the process of applying for and getting it. Between now and the next open enrollment period, I hope much time and effort is spent in trying to simplify and streamline the process, as well as training and staffing help phone lines with people who understand the system well enough and who have the temperament to assist people who know very little about the Internet.

[B2G]

10. "All of us here are pretty familiar with using websites"

True.

And how many of us here were about driven mad with frustration trying to enroll?

[MineralMan]

11. Quite a few here complained about issues with the websites.

I followed my wife's progress through it. The MNCare site had some significant bugs in it, especially early on. In fact, I advised my wife to wait for a month before attempting it again. She did, and got through the process after that. Some of the bugs were fixed, and she got signed up in time to get her new policy, which saved half of what she was paying, by January 1.

Still, looking at the website, I could see many ways that it failed to make the process simple enough, even when it was working properly. I never did look at the federal site.

Instead of using a team familiar with user interfaces designed for ease of use, like, say Amazon.com, they used a different sort of web design company, one more familiar with government websites and databases. The result was, predictably, a website that didn't work well for ordinary people not specifically trained to use the site.

Not enough testing of just the interface, using test groups with a wide range of abilities, was done early on. By the time the website was almost finished, not enough testing was done before launch, either. The result was predictable.

The problems were conceptual ones. The concept was wrong from the start and navigating the website was far too complicated and poorly explained to those who came to the website. The phone help team was poorly trained, and didn't really understand the process either. It was all just too damned complex.

Worse, it depended a lot on interfacing with third-parties, like the credit bureaus, for identity verification. The concern about that issue was overblown, and poorly implemented. At one point, my wife was asked to pick a previous phone number she had during the identity check. None of the phone numbers presented were correct, and the whole thing stalled at that point.

It was a poor start, with a poorly conceived and designed front end experience for those who had to use the system.

[Junkdrawer]

12. All indications are the back-end was/is scattered all over God's Creation...

Sign up. Try to log in - bad password. Ask for "reminder". Email sent. Email with password reset received. Follow link: User Unknown.

So I'm in the system and NOT in the system AT THE SAME TIME - the antithesis of good DB design. (Either data duplication or foreign keys are not enforced.)

[MineralMan]

13. Call the phone number and talk to someone.

That usually works in those cases.

[Junkdrawer]

14. I see you missed my posts yesterday....

Gold $1,400+/month plans: 50% co-pays on a $2,400/month prescription. (Currently $80/month co-pay).

Talk about a cold shower.

[Lurks Often]

15. Being condescending and insulting to the voters you need

Oh very nicely done Harry. Telling the very voters you need to help win in November that they are too stupid to navigate the ACA website(s) isn't helpful.