4 ms·

I used a state (Colorado) healthcare marketplace website when I was going to take a break between jobs for a couple of months, and I feel very violated by the w

I used a state (Colorado) healthcare marketplace website when I was going to take a break between jobs for a couple of months, and I feel very violated by the whole process. I entered a bunch of information to the website, knowing that the data could be expected to be shared for quotes, but I got no quote. The information didn't just flow between systems, it was just sent directly to a bunch of individuals. Instead of getting anything useful from the website, I just got told that agents would contact me, and then literally hundreds of agents were calling and texting me at all hours of the day and night for weeks. I asked one of them how to get it to stop and they said it was impossible during the government shutdown.

consumer451 5mo ago
Welcome to the reality of the US federal government not even trying to do something like GDPR.
- paulryanrogers 5mo ago
  The dysfunction is intentional. Baby steps to rollback ACA. Every small inconvenience pushes voters closer to their side.
  - teaearlgraycold 5mo ago
    So many things are intentionally broken. All of the complaints about illegal immigrants working on our farms, and yet no mention that we do have a migratory laborer visa - it's just the quota is way too low.
    - Amezarak 5mo ago
      People complaining about illegal immigrants doing farm labor mostly don’t want you to simply give them paperwork making them legal, they want the pipeline of migrant labor restricted so labor prices are forced to rise enough to make the jobs worthwhile for citizens. I’ve noticed this is a common disconnect.
      - fwipsy 5mo ago
        What wage would they have to pay you to pick berries? I suspect it's cheaper to automate these jobs (developing the tech to do so as necessary) rather than raising wages so US citizens take the job. These really aren't desirable jobs by US standards, and automation is already underway. Edit: I acknowledge that you're just explaining a viewpoint and you don't necessarily hold it.
        throwaway85825 5mo ago
        Current labor costs are too low preventing the necessary investment in automation.
    - WillPostForFood 5mo ago
      The migratory labor visa is not being ignored - a lot of action on that front. Some of it is stuck because of stalled budget negotiations. A full exemption of the cap for returning workers passed the house, but in the meantime, cap has been doubled. https://www.epi.org/blog/rider-in-the-house-homeland-security-appropriations-bill-would-increase-the-number-of-workers-in-the-h-2b-visa-program-by-113000/ https://www.epi.org/blog/rider-in-the-house-homeland-securit... https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-2b-non-agricultural-workers/temporary-increase-in-h-2b-nonimmigrant-visas-for-fy-2026 https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary...
  - mekdoonggi 5mo ago
    Republicans have the easiest playbook. 1. Break government 2. "See? Government never works!" 3. Profit 4. Repeat Parasites.
    - jvanderbot 5mo ago
      Well it's often slightly more ideological than that. Old school conservatives believed on principle that government should not be in this sort of business no matter how tempting it was. They had good, justified reasons for those beliefs, not just some vague evilness (not that one is forced to agree just because they have real justification). Maybe it's always been the case, but it sure seems like it's just momentum and reflex at this point.
WillPostForFood 5mo ago
Possible you got tricked into using a private site that buys the first google sponsored google result, and talks like it is the official Colorado site but is just lead gen? https://i.imgur.com/d2fZlTc.png https://i.imgur.com/d2fZlTc.png
- streb-lo 5mo ago
  How is that even legal?
  - lobsterthief 5mo ago
    Because the FTC has been defanged, and it was the main body preventing this sort of thing. Along with the CFPB for financial products (I don’t think insurance qualifies though.)

consumer451 5mo ago

Welcome to the reality of the US federal government not even trying to do something like GDPR.

paulryanrogers 5mo ago
The dysfunction is intentional. Baby steps to rollback ACA. Every small inconvenience pushes voters closer to their side.
- teaearlgraycold 5mo ago
  So many things are intentionally broken. All of the complaints about illegal immigrants working on our farms, and yet no mention that we do have a migratory laborer visa - it's just the quota is way too low.
  - Amezarak 5mo ago
    People complaining about illegal immigrants doing farm labor mostly don’t want you to simply give them paperwork making them legal, they want the pipeline of migrant labor restricted so labor prices are forced to rise enough to make the jobs worthwhile for citizens. I’ve noticed this is a common disconnect.
    - fwipsy 5mo ago
      What wage would they have to pay you to pick berries? I suspect it's cheaper to automate these jobs (developing the tech to do so as necessary) rather than raising wages so US citizens take the job. These really aren't desirable jobs by US standards, and automation is already underway. Edit: I acknowledge that you're just explaining a viewpoint and you don't necessarily hold it.
      - throwaway85825 5mo ago
        Current labor costs are too low preventing the necessary investment in automation.
  - WillPostForFood 5mo ago
    The migratory labor visa is not being ignored - a lot of action on that front. Some of it is stuck because of stalled budget negotiations. A full exemption of the cap for returning workers passed the house, but in the meantime, cap has been doubled. https://www.epi.org/blog/rider-in-the-house-homeland-security-appropriations-bill-would-increase-the-number-of-workers-in-the-h-2b-visa-program-by-113000/ https://www.epi.org/blog/rider-in-the-house-homeland-securit... https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-2b-non-agricultural-workers/temporary-increase-in-h-2b-nonimmigrant-visas-for-fy-2026 https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary...
- mekdoonggi 5mo ago
  Republicans have the easiest playbook. 1. Break government 2. "See? Government never works!" 3. Profit 4. Repeat Parasites.
  - jvanderbot 5mo ago
    Well it's often slightly more ideological than that. Old school conservatives believed on principle that government should not be in this sort of business no matter how tempting it was. They had good, justified reasons for those beliefs, not just some vague evilness (not that one is forced to agree just because they have real justification). Maybe it's always been the case, but it sure seems like it's just momentum and reflex at this point.

WillPostForFood 5mo ago

Possible you got tricked into using a private site that buys the first google sponsored google result, and talks like it is the official Colorado site but is just lead gen? https://i.imgur.com/d2fZlTc.png https://i.imgur.com/d2fZlTc.png

streb-lo 5mo ago
How is that even legal?
- lobsterthief 5mo ago
  Because the FTC has been defanged, and it was the main body preventing this sort of thing. Along with the CFPB for financial products (I don’t think insurance qualifies though.)