The Affordable Care Act (also commonly referred to as Obamacare) has had a tough journey. Originally, United States President Barack Obama wanted to implement a completely universal healthcare option, one that would ensure everyone coverage across the board. Of course, not everyone wanted to be a part of that. Health insurance companies weren't too thrilled about it, to say the least. Little by little, the President (along with congressional Democrats) had to chip away at his goals and compromise, eventually creating a marketplace that would allow individuals to get heavily subsidized health care for a low, affordable price. That marketplace opened up for the United States on October 1st (which would take effect in 2014). Prior to the launch, lots of marketing muscle was used to make US citizens aware of healthcare.gov, the "one stop shop" where you could compare health insurance packages, check out the benefits and of course, sign up for insurance. October 1st came and when thousands of people tried to access the website, they were not able to view packages or find a place to sign up. The website was excruciatingly slow or would not work at all. This went on for weeks and weeks. Come to find out, many things on the website were not tested properly. If they were tested, the issues were brought up but they were either ignored or there was not an adequate amount of time to resolve them before the launch date. What was supposed to be a triumphant breakthrough in getting US citizens insured ended up being treated like a joke. Everyone involved was embarrassed, none more so than President Barack Obama who openly admitted they "fumbled the rollout". The website has more or less stabilized at the time of this writing but much of the damage has already been done. Hopefully, the rest of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act can deliver the goods.
Ryan Estabrooks is a film writer/director and photographer. When he is not busy solving mysteries, he can be found working on his feature length film. You can view all of his work at the imaginatively-titled RyanEstabrooks.com
