Technical Difficulties

Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law three years ago, the Federal Government and participating States have been setting up health insurance exchanges:  electronic marketplaces for purchasing health insurance.  Some States controlled by Rethuglican radicals have refused to set up exchanges, or to expand Medicaid coverage for their poorest citizens (e.g., Texas, Louisiana).

With a three year head start on setting up the Federal exchange -- "HealthCare.gov" -- one would have thought the Administration would have put all of its attention on making sure that the system worked from day one.  One would be wrong.  Playing into the hands of Rethug saboteurs who want the ACA to fail, the Administration failed to anticipate the initial on-line traffic volume, resulting in the Federal site crashing.  How could they not have built extra capacity into the system, and tested it for high traffic volume, before rolling it out?  Incompetence perhaps?   Accepting the lowest bidder on their IT support?  Fortunately, several State-managed health insurance exchanges set up under the ACA (e.g., California, New York, Maryland) are operating smoothly.

We're hoping that self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the foot are covered under the Affordable Care Act.

BONUS:  The SNAFU with "HealthCare.gov" was the subject of Jon Stewart's takedown last night.  His guest, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, got the full treatment from Stewart, who implied that he could download every movie ever made faster that she could get health insurance through the website.