If you do not think the web site's crashing is an embarrassment than you ought to take a deep breath, touch your face and chest just to be certain you have a grasp on reality. The companies involved did a terrible job. It is as though they never tested the code. I understand custom coding all too well and accept it will result in any number of issues. But were I handed a contract for 54-634 million ( pick the number ) I think I'd have the resources to properly test the hardware and code behind that hardware. It is not the first large government to have issues and it will not be the last.

I still think it is far too early to judge. Health costs are surely going to increase. They did before and the ACA does not do enough to cut costs save at the margins. It fixed some glitches in the system--portability, pre-existing conditions, lifetime caps--while attempting to encouraging everyone to participate rather than opting out until emergency care was required and then relying on others to pay the freight. Exchanges merely give individuals better pricing than they might receive on their own. I have a buddy --Evangelical Conservative, so it's not skewed--living in the Northeast who, before the ACA has seen his family coverage rise from 5k/year to over 15k/year. I will promise you his wages--and he is self-employed--have not kept up with that rate of growth.

Something has to be tried to deal with the rate of increase on health care costs. Too many jump to conclusions too fast, largely for political reasons. There is every reason to believe that in the short term costs will decrease. Mid to long term costs are open to dispute. But it's hard to price shop when the exchanges are broken.