Check Out HealthCare.gov

I've got posts that are pretty critical of the administration lined up for this weekend, so I thought I'd get this complimentary one out of the way tonight.

David Dayen at Firedoglake reviews healthcare.gov and finds it promising:

The Administration launched HealthCare.gov today, a shiny-looking website designed to “put you back in control of your health care.” I had no idea a website could do all that, so I put it through the paces.

I clicked on “Find Insurance Options” at the top. I entered my state of residence and the situation that “best described me.” I assume that “Family/Children” could mean a family whether or not you have children, so I clicked that and moved on. Since we get health care through an employer, at this point I had to envision a scenario where my wife and I couldn’t get coverage, just to carry this through and see where it takes me. I said that we were losing employer coverage, one of us has a medical condition and that affordability would possibly be difficult. Here’s what the website offered me: Medicaid (there’s no way my family would qualify), the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP)/High Risk Pool, finding affordable care, and “A Final Note” on other options available in California. That just told me to contact my state Department of Insurance.

SNIP

I don’t know if the real problem people have with the health care system is finding out their options. It may be part of it, and I’m all for efficient websites and clearinghouses of information. In that sense, HealthCare.Gov is a step forward. But my sense was that the real problem concerned actually finding health care coverage that’s affordable and worthwhile and usable. This website can point you in a direction, but there’s no sense that the direction will work for people.

Read the whole thing.