Maybe this was exactly what they intended?
Exactly! The DUmmies truly do not want to give up their fantasy that their compassionate cult leader wants what is best for the nation even if he is a little uninformed. It will take a while for the reality to sink in, that this fraud conspired to bring about this chaos. As angry as conservatives have been, watch out for the liberal awakening. It is gonna be nasty.
I don't think they knew that there were so many "regular" people on personal plans as opposed to "rich" people. They don't live in the same world as the rest of us.
The Insurance companies Had to know down to the last policy how many individual policies would be cancelled. $hitty replacement policies were offered and this was supposed to quickly drive 4-5 million unhappy campers into the exchanges, but who knew that that the gods of chaos would so curse healthcare.gov that it was unusable until after the news of the number of canceled policies became viral.
Bottom line is that many previously cancelled policies will be offered for renewal (don't know about doctors) and those folks will have escaped the exchange for at least another year when they can join the legion of keening canceled employees. These policies were crucial for funding the claims of the flood of the sick and people with pre-existing conditions.
Even if they get the website working as envisioned I think they will be millions of enrollees short. Obama should have stuck to his guns and vetoed any legislative attempt at change. But this was just another political consideration wasn't it?