I tried to use healthcare.gov soon after it first came online. It was very slow, and eventually the system got to a point where it wouldn't let me go forward with my application or do anything else. A few days later, I tried again. This time, it complained that it couldn't verify my ID, and it told me call an 800-number or submit my ID online. The 800-number was closed at that time, so I decided to upload one of the identification documents. A week or so later, I still couldn't use my account, and I had not received any email about it either.
Next, I tried calling the 800-number, which seems to be contracted with Experian. Experian asked for a "reference number" that the web site was supposed to have provided, but it didn't. Without that number, Experian refused to help me. The main healthcare.gov phone number could not help me, either. Finally, I tried creating a new account, and at some point the site asked me a few multiple-choice questions about my previous addresses and so forth. This is apparently the ID "verification." I had never gotten to this page on my original account! Eventually, I was able to look at the insurance plans available. My guess is that my original account ended up with bad data in it, and there was no way to recover from it other than creating a new account.