State, site not really so rosy

I have just a few questions about the Affordable Care Act, properly dubbed Obamacare and the fiasco known as the Health Care Exchange.

Why is it that those who set up the exchange would not have done extensive testing and maybe used a sample group to work out all the bugs etc from the government website?

Why did the government not put the administration and set-up of the exchange out for bid?

Why did the government outsource the exchange system to a Canadian firm with personal ties to Michelle Obama?

Why was it called “affordable”? Maybe because of the millions of people who are receiving free medical care (Medicaid/Washington Apple Health) or those who rightfully received “tax credits”? But certainly not those who do not qualify for tax credits, whose premiums increased about 30 to 40 percent.

Why did we have to give up choice when choosing our medical plan? Through the exchange there are only six companies of which some have limited networks. Also a limited number of plans — Gold, Silver, Bronze with benefits I don’t need — like maternity, abortion, etc.

Why did our insurance commissioner, Mike Kreidler, tell Congress that the state of Washington’s plan had no problems, when over a hundreds of thousands of people have spent numerous hours trying to enroll and still have not been able to enroll through no fault of their own?

Why is it we have not heard or received any assistance or help from our congressional leaders — where have you been Dave, Maria, Patty, Rick and Susan?

These are all questions we need to ask our representatives and keep asking until we get answers. If not then it is time for a change.

John Stupey

Everett

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