This commentary express the attitude that we all should have:
Paula Poundstone on ACA: Hey, we're used to tech problems
A woman looks at the HealthCare.gov insurance exchange site, October 1, 2013 in Washington, D.C. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)
(CBS News) If there were an Oscar for Best Performance by a Website, it certainly wouldn't go to the one that goes with the Affordable Care Act. But is that a reason to discredit the health care law as a whole? Contributor Paula Poundstone has a letter for President Obama:
Dear Mr. President,
I want you to know that I am still with you on this health care thing. The media would have us believe that it has lost support, which makes no sense.
Most of us agreed that we loved the idea of people with pre-existing health problems being able to receive coverage. It is simply not possible that technical challenges with the website could cause voters to turn off on that idea.
Anybody who has ever used a computer knows, that privilege goes hand-in-hand with frustration. Why would we give up on the affordable health care law because of that?
If we were ordering something from Amazon, we'd keep trying for months. Heck, if we were having cable installed, we'd take the day off work to wait for the cable man. We're no strangers to struggling with websites. Why would that make us give up on a law that makes some insurance policies provide preventative medicine with no co-payments?
Technology is fraught with frustration. I had a double-tweeting problem for a while, but I didn't give up my Twitter account.
My toaster lost its timer, but I still make toast.
It took me days to put the video I made of the first Thanksgiving up on YouTube, but just look on my website, sir. I triumphed!
Heck, when I first hooked up my computer, I spent hours on the phone with a guy at Verizon, who said his name was David (but I don't think his name was David), and it was unbelievably frustrating.
I cried.
I'm telling you I actually cried.
I reached the depths of despair, but I never gave up.
If "David" couldn't break me, how could it be that I'd already throw in the towel on a law that makes it possible for my kids to remain on my family policy until they are 26?
Maybe it'll work, and maybe it won't, Mr. President, but I sure want it to, and if I want it to anywhere nearly as bad as I wanted my DVD player to work with the same remote as my big screen TV, I don't want to, but I can, suffer through a few more glitches in the healthcare site.
