Any early adopter of tech will tell you that few, if any, digital products are flawless upon rollout. A product intended to help millions of uninsured people acquire health care is no exception.
As a part of the Affordable Care Act, better known as "Obamacare," legal residents of the United States seeking health care coverage can now obtain it through online marketplaces. On its very first day of operation on Tuesday, those marketplaces experienced technical glitches.
See also: Obamacare Explained: How to Use the Internet for Health Care
@HealthCareGov #GetCovered except that the site isn't working properly! Registeirng, Logging in and Chat support are all with problems.
— mike periu (@mikeperiu) October 1, 2013
HealthCare.Gov is the online marketplace for residents of 34 states and the government's hub for information on the new law. The site's operators acknowledged and replied to complaints about the issues on Twitter.
Thanks for all your comments and updates as you enroll. We apologize that wait times on the site and hotline are longer than expected! (1/2)
— HealthCare.gov (@HealthCareGov) October 1, 2013
We're working to fix these issues as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience (2/2)
— HealthCare.gov (@HealthCareGov) October 1, 2013
"We have built a dynamic system and are prepared to make adjustments as needed and improve the consumer experience," a spokesperson for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) told Mashable in an email.
Even President Barack Obama, the eponymous champion of the new law, said he expected such technical problems.
"In the first week, first month, first three months, I would suspect that there will be glitches," he said in an interview with NPR Tuesday morning. "This is 50 states — a lot of people — signing up for something. And there are going to be problems."
The CMS recommends three options for people in need of assistance: Contact the call center, use the live chat function or seek help from a local representative.
Of course, another option is to simply wait out the technical problems (although there's no timeline yet for when the glitches will be fixed). The open enrollment period to acquire a health care plan for 2014 lasts until March 31, and none of the plans for sale on the online exchanges take effect before Jan. 1.
Image: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images