Here's The Error Message I Got When I Just Tried Signing Up For Obamacare

A day after the Obama administration touted improvements in the dysfunctional federal health exchange website, I tried to start an application process on the site.

I couldn't even start an application. I got the error message at right.

This could be interpreted in a couple of ways. First, it's pretty bad that the day after declaring a success in fixing more than 400-plus bugs and glitches on the site, even the first step in signing up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act isn't working. The administration also had said that the site would be functional more than 90% of the time.

It also means, according to the administration's calculation that the site can now support up to 50,000 concurrent visits, that there are more than that number currently browsing HealthCare.gov. This, at least, indicates high interest.

The administration was quick to tout some of the key changes in a progress report on Sunday:

• The site will now be able to support a maximum of 800,000 visitors per day, including a target of 50,000 concurrent visits.
• The site is now online 90% of the time, according to the The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• The "tech surge" that came to the site in late October has helped to fix 400-plus bugs and glitches on a "punch list."
• The average response time of the site is now less than one second, an improvement from about 8 seconds in late October.