As of this writing, it has been five months since I first attempted to obtain individual health insurance through the Hawaii Health Connector (HHC), and I still don’t have insurance. It has been five long months of frustration and aggravation, disbelief and worry.

First I tried to enroll on the HHC website, which was touted as being very "easy" and "user friendly." Nothing could be further from the truth. After getting booted out of the system numerous times, I finally gave up and went to the Waimanalo Health Center to get help from a trained HHC assister.

Luckily, that person was able to get me enrolled, but not without trouble of her own. Things went smoothly with applying for and receiving tax credits, although it took several weeks for it to be finalized.

I thought it would be easy sailing after that, because all I had to do was select a plan with my insurance company of choice, HMSA. I did so on Dec. 14, but called back the next day to change plans. Not a problem, I was told. My original request would be cancelled and my new request would be processed. Hah! Two weeks later I received a package in the mail from HMSA for the original plan, not the replacement plan.

For the past two months, I have made at least a dozen calls to both HMSA and HHC trying to get the new plan that I selected. HHC has told me three different times that my old request was cancelled and that the new request was sent to HMSA, but every time I talked to HMSA, they said that they did not receive the new submission.

Round and round I’ve gone, with both parties continually telling me that they think that situations such as mine are caused by the inadequate integration of their two computer systems, causing data to get lost. Nobody seems to be able to figure out how to fix these issues, leaving the front-line people at HMSA and HHC, and consumers like me, equally dazed and confused.

I apologize profusely to the people on the phone at both HMSA and HHC for venting to them about my situation. I know these people are not responsible for the many problems with the dysfunctional systems that they have to work with. I think we would all like to see more accountability on the part of the administrators of this huge mess.

When I first heard about Obamacare, I was very optimistic that I would get some relief from paying very high business insurance as a sole proprietor of a consulting company. President Barack Obama continually told me through the media that the Affordable Care Act would finally make health insurance "affordable" for a large segment of the uninsured or underinsured population. This, he promises, is the answer for millions of people just like me. Hah! What a joke.

When I finally took a good look at the insurance plans available to me through HMSA, I was shocked. Although the least expensive plan has a fairly reasonable monthly fee of $370 ($4,440 per year), the deductible is a whopping $6,350. Are you kidding me?

Luckily, I qualified for tax credits, which reduces my monthly fee to only $11 per month. However, it is conceivable that I could have to pay the full $6,350 in out-of-pocket expenses should I have any serious or long-term health issues. Many people do not qualify for any credits. How in the world can they afford to pay the full premium, plus all the out-of-pocket expenses? How can anyone consider this to be "affordable health care"?

What a bunch of shibai!