By Rebecca Tolpin ’14, Staff Writer

The recent rollout of the Affordable Care Act (also known as ‘Obamacare’) has resulted in an avalanche of public opinion.  Most of the complaints have focused on the fact that the online system has been barely functional and many people have been unable to log in and enroll in the healthcare programs set up by the new law. It seems that the Affordable Care Act has not been living up to its expectations of easy accessibility, affordable cost, and improvement to healthcare coverage for many of the people it is trying to reach.

Server problems on healthcare.gov have been a major setback in the rollout of Obamacare. Some reports suggest that the whole design of the website is based on outdated architecture, and as many as five million lines of computer code currently need to be rewritten in order to make the site functional.  Insurance companies are also reporting that the enrollment information that they have received is often incomplete and inaccurate. This could lead to problems allotting the correct coverage plan. According to CNBC, there are problems with the countless direct enrollment forms on the Obamacare website. CNBC explained that these forms, called ‘834’s,’ “contain information about individuals that insurers then use to officially enroll that person in health-care coverage.” In other words, if the information entered is not correct, individuals will qualify for plans that will not fulfill their demonstrated requirements for coverage. These connection and comprehension issues create a situation in which individuals find it increasingly difficult to qualify for the correct healthcare program, and represent a failure to accomplish exactly what the Affordable Care act was designed to do in the first place.

A large amount of freedom is lost when a universal healthcare program is created. There have been many reports of insurance policies being cancelled because they do not conform to new regulations, according to a recent report by CNN.  Instead, people are offered new policies which are considerably more expensive and have a limited choice of doctors and large deductibles, according to Business Insider.  Essentially, the Affordable Care Act provides citizens with fewer healthcare options and less personalized and affordable healthcare coverage. The fact that healthcare lies in the private sector also eliminates the ability for the market to control and determine quality of healthcare coverage. This is because doctors and nurses no longer work in a competitive market, and therefore do not need to use quality as a method for attracting customers. This new healthcare law creates a situation in which those already covered are bullied by insurance companies, and those looking for coverage receive lower quality care.

The most immediate problem with the Affordable Care Act rollout is that the clock is ticking.  The deadline for signing up for next year and avoiding tax penalties is December 15^th.  If technical problems are not solved or alternatives not provided before that date, the individual mandate requiring every person to obtain health insurance or face penalties should be postponed. It is unlikely that the Obama administration will allow this failed rollout to hurt the future of the plan President Obama has put his name on, and we will likely see this deadline pushed back significantly, if the website cannot be fixed in a timely manner. Combined with the poor concept, the issues involved with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act have created a major political problem for the Obama administration. The president’s reaction to his failing plan will be a telling part of his presidency, and will create interesting developments for the foreseeable future. The die has been cast. Now it is time to see whether the concept of universal healthcare will work in the United States.