Can someone help me understand this issue a bit better than I currently do? I know they've spent several hundred million dollars to build a site. They promise to have it fixed by December. It will be used to sign people into Health care Insurance policies. My quandaries are:
1) Aren't the policies just for a one year term?
2) What will the site be used for once we all have our policies chosen?
3) Is that site going to be used for a three month re-assignment exercise each year in ensuing years and idle the rest of the time?
4) Is that site just for this initial sign-up?
5) Why aren't the Insurance Companies paying for a system that forces us all to opt into one of their pieces of paper?
Well, on that last one I can understand we'd all end up paying the tab whichever bank account funded the site construction.

I can answer your first question.
In general, all health care policies, including one's obtained thru one's employment, are good for only one year. The option is given yearly to opt out. If you don't opt out, then it is renewed. It Shasta worked this way every. job I have had that offered medical insurance. Four were gov't jobs, one county, two state, and one federal. Two more were private sector. In one of the private sector jobs, I oversaw the insurance inquires for the place I worked within a national chain.

In all of them, employees had to decided by a certain date every year if they wanted to maintain the coverage they had or switch to some other type of coverage offered. And every single year, in every single job, people would ignore the repeated notices and warnings of "Change by this date if you want to" and then complain they had wanted to change coverage after it was to late to do so.

I haven't looked into the specifics of the website because I don't need to. However, if after all the initial signups are done, and people lose insurance in the workplace or age out of their parents coverage without obtaining their own coverage, then the website will still be needed. And that will happen throughout the year, not only during a three month period.





edited for a typo I noticed. I'm going to ignore any others probably.

Yes. Each year you have to renew.



If people have a life change (like get married, job changes, etc.) you can get a new policy any time.



No, see above.



It's to sign up, and eventually renew, your plans. You can also use it to compare plans to make sure you continue to gt the most affordable plan.



Because it's a government mandate - we can't mandate the companies pay for it (even though we would probably have a working website if we did!)

Thanks. I was worried that all the hirees we employed to do data inputting for the unconnected would be sitting idle for the next 9 months (and solving quizzes here at FT all day). Oh. they mostly will be but for the occasional birthday effected individual (I don't see how marriages or deaths will impact any part of this since 1 yr is the same for all and there ought to be auto links and up-date avenues to travel if any social security data - ie name or death - changes. The system should be cross talking with the other government dBs). If a plan is agreed to for a 25.5 yr old, wouldn't they then be covered until they were 26.5 and then have to apply on their own in the three month window like everyone else? Otherwise it means policies will be written for less than a year term for those in their 25th year. Is it wise to employ full time to cover a task which will be virtually not required for nine months? And really, how many 25 yr olds are unconnected and would require the help of these data entry personnel?

It should have been a rolling sign-up based on birthday, not a one deadline serves all.

I think you're eligible through the year you turn 26. So December 31st of the year you turned 26 is the last day you could have coverage. But you should be able to buy it anytime you want if you want to get off your parents' plan.