Twitchy has already told you plenty of stories of people who tried to sign up for the new Obamacare health insurance exchanges today, only to find that technical errors prevented them from getting past step three. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be if it happened on the air? There’s no need to imagine; an MSNBC reporter this morning tried to demonstrate the sign-up process live on the air this morning, and ended up bailing out and calling it a day.
It wasn’t for a lack of trying. Once the website threw up an internal server error (after 30 minutes), she tried to use online chat, but “that didn’t go anywhere.” Fifteen minutes into the second unanswered phone call to support, she gave up, saying “this is where my patience would be exhausted” if signing up for real. The best part is than you can overhear an executive producer in the background say she couldn’t sign up at another state’s exchange — so much for a backup plan.
https://twitter.com/eScarry/status/385061544960094208
If any news network was counting on making HealthCare.gov look good, it was MSNBC. CNN gave it a shot too, but no luck there either.
CNN can't sign up either. "Not like the iPhone…my iPhone works." pic.twitter.com/R4DSWgsGib
— Sarah Isgur (@whignewtons) October 1, 2013
Heh RT @whignewtons: CNN can't sign up either. "Not like the iPhone…my iPhone works." pic.twitter.com/4UsuSHTnLD
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) October 1, 2013
The iPhone line comes from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ request that people give the health insurance exchanges the same slack they gave Apple during the rollout of its new iOS7 operating system.
Yesterday, HHS Sec. Sebelius said she hopes consumers "give us the same slack they give Apple" re: exchange glitches.
— Liz Goodwin (@lizcgoodwin) October 1, 2013
So cut the government some slack. They’ve only had three years to get this right.
Three years is not enough time to make website work. MSNBC Reporter Quits Obamacare Sign Up Demo After Glitches: http://t.co/MVLwdj7ZVy
— Mark Harrill (@y2knonsense) October 1, 2013
* * *
Update: NBC has chosen to have a reporter follow along as an average citizen finds himself stonewalled by the Healthcare.gov website. Something tells us more than one person in Texas had problems.
Tonight @AnnaWerner sits down with a man in Texas who had trouble accessing the new health insurance exchange site: pic.twitter.com/cVNgVEjIjx
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) October 1, 2013
(hat tip: @ConservaChick)
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