There’s virtually no debate that the launch of the national Obamacare exchange — the website where you can go buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act — has been a glitch-plagued disaster.
There are stories of legions of people not being able to log on and shop for plans.
Now Robert Pear, Sharon LaFraniere, and Ian Austen at the NYT have published the best account of what went wrong. And the short answer is: basically everything.
“These are not glitches,” said an insurance executive who has participated in many conference calls on the federal exchange. Like many people interviewed for this article, the executive spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying he did not wish to alienate the federal officials with whom he works. “The extent of the problems is pretty enormous. At the end of our calls, people say, ‘It’s awful, just awful.’” Interviews with two dozen contractors, current and former government officials, insurance executives and consumer advocates, as well as an examination of confidential administration documents, point to a series of missteps — financial, technical and managerial — that led to the troubles.
A few damning details from the report include:
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