The glitch-prone HealthCare.gov and its sister Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) site have attracted trolls, cheerleaders, and scores of alleged computer programmers since the site’s blog went live on June 21. After weeks of exhaustive research, the Washington Free Beacon has compiled a list of the untruths, fallacies, and emoticons that reflect the quality of the commentariat.
Here are 10 commenters who will make your jaw drop.
10. This lady wished cancer upon her unborn-great grandchild in order to preserve President Barack Obama’s legacy.
Submitted by Christine - a month ago -
One day, as I'm sitting on the porch with my husband, completely recovered from a life-saving surgery, enjoying the company of our great-grandchildren, one of whom battled cancer and won; we'll look back on this rocky start with an affectionate chuckle because, for all the scandal the glitch-ridden launch caused at the time, it was a small price to pay. The President's Legacy is intact. I appreciate the work you all are doing to fix things, and so will everyone else...eventually. 🙂
9. This anonymous 91-year-old war hero who somehow lacks Medicare and VA benefits.
I am a 91 yo World Word II combat veteran without insurance. (Not everyone my age qualifies for Medicare. I am one of them.) With help from a very savvy family member who is a physician with a background in computers and health law, we have worked very hard to create a functioning account for healthcare.gov, without success, daily since it opened 31 days ago, every day, sometimes devoting as much as 4 hours/day. We have visited the website hundreds of times. We have contacted the phone reps dozens of times. We have spoken with multiple "Advanced Resolutions Specialists," most of whom fail to return calls, even when scheduled at specific times. We have spoken with Experian dozens of times, including in three-way conversations initiated by Advanced Resolutions Specialists. We have uploaded scans of my identification documents many times to the web site; we have also mailed them in repeatedly. We have requested paper applications multiple times, but never received them through the mail. We have downloaded applications from the web (which only recently became available) and have mailed them in. We have completed several applications over the phone. Nothing works. My identity cannot be verified; there is never an explanation. The applications disappear after a few days and we are forced to start over. PLEASE HELP ME!
8. This wishful thinker.
Darren IndyJames - a month ago −
Your reasoning is not clear and seems flawed. Please explain how it's the fault of the president or Democratic legislators. The law is not perfect, but it *has* made health care more affordable for a majority of Americans. It SHOULD be fixed, but that will not happen without the cooperation of Republicans in Congress, and the chances of that are slim to none right now, considering they have been trying to kill or defund the law for years now (the latest example is the debacle that was the government shutdown).But something is better nothing, don't you think?
7. This person who was unable to access information about insurance due to Healthcare.gov glitches.
Aundrea Williams-Anderson - 2 months ago -
I could not agree with you more LOL Its kinda like buying a car or a house without so much as a picture to go by and just hoping it will be decent once you've bought it..I really hope they fix that.Darren - a month ago -
You can always call the insurance companies directly if the website really doesn't provide you with the details you need.seeparker - a month ago -
Stop whining.
6. This woman who really hates welfare recipients.
Flower Blossom - 3 months ago −
Don't assume anything! You really need to compare your current plan with the optional plans available and decide what is best for you. Trust me, providing access to birth control is not going to put the country in debt. It will save us a ton of money by not having to support women and children on welfare. In fact, the money we save will be put to good use in doing more research on hormone replacement therapy, and eventually all plans will offer it with no deductible/copay if it truly is safe.
5. The one guy who managed to get insurance.
Daniel Cole - a month ago -
Not really. I got some damn good silver insurance for ~$55/month, with about $33/month added on for dental, and I'm a bartender making about $16k a year.oscarkool2 - a month ago -
Wow, nice lying bro. Let's see what I got offered at my $15k a year income: a $120 tax credit so if I want a silver plan, I will pay minimum of $99/month and thats for a decent plan. Now if I were to pay $55/month, my deductible would be $6,000 LOL. So you're just straight up lying. This whole thing is a debacle. I did have a $230 tax credit 2 weeks ago, but they 'found an error' and cut that in half LOL. What a huge joke of a system. I told them to cancel my enrollment as I'd rather pay a penalty than pay into this system.
4. The people yelling at the one guy who managed to get insurance.
Daniel Cole - a month ago -
After the initial set-up issues - the site running slow and being a bit clunky - everything went fine for me.
Also, if you're having problems with the site, why not call and fill out the paperwork by hand? People did it for decades.Carol Caraway - a month ago -
I was told I still needed to create an account online which has proved to be impossiblePraiseDog - 21 days ago -
.Well good for you. If you would bother to read, many of us are locked in server/database hell. The people we call cannot help us. They put in escalations and nobody calls us back as promised. We can do nothing at all, our applications are somehow locked up. Even if we can put in another application, if they would allow that, it might just screw things up worse. I don't think one can take any advise from even the supervisors. I have not been told for 8 weeks anything that turned out to be credible. There seems to be a wide separation between the people you call and those behind the scene. There is absolutely nothing we can do. The people we call can't help us. And those that might be able to help us will not call us as promised. We are the untold number of victims. This design and implementation I assure you will be a case study in incompetence and negligence for years to come, taught in Business and Computer Science Departments. And I do know a bit about this, I was a software developer, subcontractor to NASA and USGS.
3. This ironically named conspiracy theorist.
articulate - 24 days ago -
THAT IS NOT OBAMACARE .. THE HEALTHCARE COMPANY ARE HACKING IN TRYING TO OFFER YOU INSURANCE AND YOU THINKING YOU GETTING OBAMACAREIndyJames - 4 days ago -
That's not very articulate.
2. This "expert" programmer.
Equiano357 - a month ago -
In full disclosure, I am a Democrat. I support my President and his efforts to fix our Healthcare system. I have to say though, as an IT professional, whomever managed the design and implementation of this website, needs to be stripped of any professional credentials and made to where a dunce hat while sitting in a public square. The efficiency of this site is horrible and I'm just talking about the application process so far. The website is not as intuitive as it can be and unnecessarily asks the same questions over and over again. This site can be simplified. Please hire me for two years at my current salary and I will light a fire under some folks and get it fixed. (It would not take me two years though.) We do integrations and transitions on a monthly basis 4-6 projects at a time. I know dealing with legacy systems and interfacing with various insurance companies and staying in compliance with state and federal laws can be a challenge, but you guys have missed basic stuff. The sequencing of the questions or the workflow is not optimal. The questions could be asked in a different order. Relationships could be established and questions could be eliminated or suppressed based on answers and household structure. If I were in charge, we would have called this what it is, beta testing. You could not have possibly tested this site from what I'm seeing at this point. I hope someone competent is working to fix this thing. When you complete the application and proceed to the review phase, if you try to edit a single section, it loops back through the entire application process. That is not good. The President can not write code and he's not doing nuts and bolts. I would not have placed my President in this situation. The contractors involved should not get paid one penny of our tax dollars for this product. You have people that are slated to enroll in their job health plans that have increased their prices too freaking much. I was hoping to compare plans in the exchanges to the plans being offered at my job. I am running out of time though since the website is not ready. It's a shame. We should have gone with the public option or single payer. Why should anyone get paid off another person's misfortune or illness? That's not capitalism. That is extortion. That is mob rule.
1. This person who clearly doesn’t understand how comments sections work.
William Doval - 2 months ago -
This page needs to be moderated to only allow serious comments. Some people actually need this.Guest - 2 months ago -
Can we just outlaw all insurance including a government option. Just get rid of it and prices will dropMichael - 2 months ago -
There is Medicare and Medicaid. As long as I don't pay for you, I wish you luck. I have my own responsibilities and family. "Pursuit of happiness", not promised.
BONUS:
Linda K. Tease - 3 months ago -
My son is 33 no job. How will he apply?Vicki - 2 months ago -
Looks like this applies to a lot of us! Anybody know the answer?? Here in Arizona a single adult with no kids can't even apply for publicly funded insurance, so...now what?Doug Lambert - 2 months ago -
Tell him to get a job