A Review of The Healthcare Exchange

Well to begin with,  im not a huge fan of purchasing insurance as it is, I am self employed , so i do not have a company providing a good deal on rates and with a pre-existing condition like asthma, even a shabby insurance package is top dollar....think 500 a month plus. and that's with about a 5000 dollar deductible....a word which doesn't make much sense to me I don't use 5000 a year worth of care in a year. It has always baffled me why i should pay a monthly fee to turn around and have to pay to see a doctor. Hence to say i am a " Self - Pay" Patient.

There has been lots of buzz about the healthcare market place and honestly i have been excited get on and see what "amazing rates" ( as they are portraying) I may qualify for. So at midnight Oct 2nd...my journey begun, If you know the government...like I do, nothing...i mean nothing is a 123 process.

Oct 1st (12:31 am)
Tried to log on to the marketplace and create an account , got all the way to the second page of security questions, and the drop down lists did not work. I entered in the fields a general ( one, two , three) answer thinking maybe it will go through....NO. It said unable to create an account at this time

Oct 1st ( 12:30 pm) Ok I found out the market place was not open till 8:30 am....so the first attempt was my fault...I attempted to log on again greeted by a page that said wait and we will redirect you. Ok...being understanding i waited....30 minutes later I was redirected. i proceeded to create an account and encountered the same problem I did yesterday with the drop down menus.

4 more times i attempted this from different browsers same problem.
I figured id wait a day...it was said the web page was flooded by eager users

Oct 2nd  (2pm) Same problem as yesterday after long waits to actually create an account ...i couldn't.
I decided to call...
The representative was apologetic and pleasant and the telephone wait was surprisingly short, she told me shed be happy to complete my application over the phone....45 minutes and what i thought was halfway into my application, i was ready to give her information on the third child and she tole me her application would not take three children.
WHAT ? I mean its not like i said 5 or 8, ( not that there's anything wrong with 5 or 8) but 3 is about the average number of kids. she told me I could go to a community center and have them fill it out for me...so I gave her my zip code and she gave me 3 locations .....no where near me. i mean 50 - 60 miles away.
Apologizes and then sends me on my way...

Oct 3rd ( 11:00 am ) Ok maybe this flooded marketplace has died down a bit. I went on to create an application....to my surprise i was able to complete it. Excited now at prospect of seeing these mystery rates, I proceed to my e-mail....to verify my address, then back to the login page. This time when I log in it tells me I have an incorrect combination of pasword and login.

" Oh boy here we go again" 
I tried
1. Forgot Pasword ( tells me i have no account)
2. Forgot Login ( tells me i have no account again)
3. Create a new account ( tells me i already have an account)
4. Verify my e-mail again ( tells me i already did so...go to login)

This circle reminds me of anything government. So I begin to wonder...can anyone log in or is it all a charade. I have asked friends who said they have the same problem, although in all fairness I have one friend who posted on Facebook that he logged in and saved 300 per month. Partially why I was so excited

(12:00)
So skeptical again I call the marketplace hotline, to a girl who lacked so much energy she sounded like she was dying sounded exhausted. ( maybe  all those calls from angry Americans like me) Once again...so sorry yada yada yada...let me see what I can do. ( I don't think she knew how to trouble shoot anything....)

She keeps asking me if I want to do my application on the Phone, I told her I don't believe she can do it ....I want to log into my online account, she goes back and fourth placing me on hold....then comes back and tells me this is a common problem because 6.7 million people are trying to access their site at the same time ( which by the way is the same exact number as yesterday) I highly doubt 6.7 million people are accessing your site at every minute. Next time she should say many and not put a number to it.
She assures me she will not have the same problem doing my application as the other girl. According to her she should have done 2 applications for 3 children not 1. (????)
Whatever...ill waste another almost an hour. She places me on hold for 15 minutes and comes back and says

" Im sorry, It looks like i wont be able to process your application after all"
(:0/ ..."Shocked" ...yeah right. )
she asks me can she mail me an application...."no thank you, im sure ill never receive it." 

So that's MY experience. I have no opinion about this market place other then for me....it does not exist.
I would LOVE ....to hear someone else experience because to date most people i know have NONE.
but " Such is The Government"