On the first day of Obamacare's enrollment period, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius pre-emptively begged forgiveness for technical difficulties by comparing the launch of health care reform to the release of a new Apple product.

Hopefully, she explained, Americans will "give us the same slack they give Apple....If there's not quite the operational excellence right away, we'll continue to press for that."

But here are three reasons why Obamacare aint no iPhone.

1. Apple Products Are, um, Voluntary.

Using Apple products is strictly voluntary. Unlike Obamacare, nobody is forced to pick up the latest iPhone or Mac. And thank god, nobody is forced to use inferior offerings such as Apple Maps.

1. Apple Can Go Out of Business.

Apple, like other once-mighty tech giants such as Nokia and RIM, is only a string of bad releases away from going belly up. The federal government? Not so much.

1. Apple Stores Are Occasionally Open.

Even on its busiest days, you can usually get into an Apple store. And you can always get online at Apple.com. Compare that to the experience of earlybirds trying to access the health insurance exchanges at Healthcare.gov or residents of whole states such as Colorado and Oregon, where there are major delays.

About 1.30 minutes. Written by Nick Gillespie, who also narrates, and produced by Meredith Bragg.

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