We are learning that the problems with HealthCare.gov, the website that is the portal to Obamacare health insurance, are not just due to the large number of people trying to sign on. It turns out that the website is symptomatic of government incompetence on an epic scale.
The site wasn’t even tested until the week before the scheduled launch. During the test, the site crashed with only a few hundred simultaneous log-ons, though the system was supposed to handle tens of thousands at a time. Despite the failure of the test, officials gave the go-ahead for launch anyway! (See this for details.)
Also, the complexity of the sign-up process, which has multiplied the chances for glitches, is due to a political decision. If you tried to get onto the site, you would notice (before your computer froze) that you couldn’t just click onto your state and see a list of policies and their costs. First you had to create an account, then sign in, then enter all kinds of detailed information about your place of employment, then give your income in IRS-level detail, whereupon your information had to be linked to the Social Security site for verification, and on and on, all before you could see any policies.