This just in: [Link: theblaze.com]


So we only blew through $90+ million for a broken website.  

Or maybe it was really $500 million...Digital Trends has revised and explained its tally:  [Link: digitaltrends.com]


 

Don't play semantics, CGI group is the primary contractor for the website, period. The are more than three other contractors helping.

[Link: washingtonpost.com]


This article does a fair of job of breaking the website issues down. Apparently, a lot of the problem is that the exchange has to link up with dozens of other bloated bureaucrat sites to verify income and eligibility. Still a poorly designed and implemented site. Microsoft could have done better, maybe even Brent Huskins.

Last week i went to the site. Filled everything out and was asked to prove my identity so i uploaded a scan of my drivers license. Haven't heard from anyone. Each time i login i get to that same point.

What i don't get about this is why i have to go through all this just to get rates. I should be able to enter my name/state/age and get access to rates. Once i have my good better best rate options i should be able to

A. close the window because i was just curious and not ready to pull the trigger anyway.

B. select an option and finalize the "deal"...and THEN prove who i am. It's like i am being asked to show ID before i walk into the grocery store instead of on the way out.

This way...if there is a problem with proving identity or finalizing i don't go away empty handed. At least i would know what to expect in terms of cost.

Millions, billions, glitches... semantics. 

Mac would have done it for $39 million and it would have worked. At least better than a Crestron TP with crappy WiFi.

Something we can all agree on.

The chat feature works great. You spend about 10 minutes waiting so you can have them tell you to call into the number that no one ever answers.

They only had 3 years and 7 months to figure this out and get a working system in place. I don't know why people expect miracles

You forgot the 59 99 654 Kajillion Billions paid for it too.

Maybe they should hire people who built websites for cat pictures and forums for geeks. It would then be awesome, and we'd get a bunch of annoying pop ups. 
 

No matter what was paid for it, why is it acceptable to you that it doesn't work? Is it just because it is the party line? Take off your democrat Oakleys for a minute.

What if you were hired to connect a house that had been pre-wired. There was a party and the owners needed it done by such and such date. You do a horrible job on the installation and it doesn't work half of the time. Should this be acceptable to the customer because "Oh, the kinks will get worked out". No. They'd be pissed and rightfully so.

We the American people are the customers, it isn't working right, and a lot of people are pissed. It's not a partisan issue. Democrats should be equally pissed off.

Where did you make the serious mistake of assuming that this is all acceptable to me?

Acceptable would mean we take it as it is now and don't improve it. Saying 'the kinks will get worked out' is not acceptance. 

It's quite apparent you (or others) are wearing some kind of ideological glasses which paints everything with a 'government sucks' hue. And somebody not falling in line and expressing any pragmatism is a Democratic party loyalist. 

Then to make things more complicated, you make another erroneous assumption. Since I did not fall into line and grab the pitchfork with you, and had the temerity to challenge some of these assertions and biases, you assume that I believe the mirror opposite of you. 

This is a serious problem in argument. If somebody does not believe what you do, this does not mean the believe the exact opposite of what you do. 

This means you are wearing ideological glasses and assume everybody else is wearing some other ideological glasses. Makes for an overly simplistic worldview that makes life more complicated. 

There is also the lack of good faith argument in the greater debate, displayed in this thread: much of the bitching sure seems to be driven by sentiments that hope the whole thing will fail and have espoused a True Believer faith that it will fail. Obbviously driven by ideology (more of the glasses). That I challenge that notion and call out this bad faith concept does not mean I'm a True Believer that it will work. It may turn into a big stinky pile. Or it may sorta work. Or it may be great in (1, 2, 15) years. 

It's a very large and complex undertaking and it hasn't started well. This isn't Facebook or Twitter either, it's a web portal that has to integrate a complex service with many public and private entities. And it hasn't been made any easier when factions within the government are still resisting passed law in implementing it. 

(is the above Pragmatism or left wing ideology? Can you tell the difference?)

(rhetorical question)

So your analogy with hooking up somebody else's wiring for a deadline isn't great, because I've been there and done that. Also with AV projects over $1m dollars. And there are glitches and stuff doesn't go right, sometimes our fault, sometimes not. 

But we work on fixing it then fix it because it is not acceptable. 
 

Holy crap, that didn't take long. 

Republicans open investigation into flawed Obamacare rollout

Nicely spun headline, Issa sent letters 'just asking questions'  so there's no actual investigation yet. 

 

You can spin this every way you want but it is still an embarassment that these sites are as badly done as they are. They will be fixed by the fact remains that this is not a minor issue. These sites essentially do not function so the deadline for completion was missed. Even by AIA definition of substantial completion this fails. There are worse failures but first impressions do matter, particularly with a plan as controversial as this one. It should have been tested prior to release and it was not. Imagine how much worse the press would be had Republicans not given them a pass with the government shut down by having all eyes focus on that fiasco rather than the web site failure.

I don't really see this as much different than how many other branches of government currently work. The difference is that this is now a branch that most people will have to directly interface with, whereas most other branches are abstracted away from your life.

Ever try and deal with ICE - Customs, Immigration/Visas? USPTO - Patent and Trademark Office? FDA -Food and Drug? These are all massive organizations that people make entire careers out of dealing with them, understanding their forms and applications, knowing the tricks of the trade to actually getting the job done.

Now we have Healthcare.gov to let the people interface directly with the department. There are no 'expert' lawyers or brokers yet, no 'Dummies' books on this yet. So honestly, compared to some other departments, even with website launch issues, this is like a breath of fresh air just in the fact that it 'might work'.

Personally, I don't plan to use the healthcare exchanges and will be keeping the private insurance I have. So all I can say to everyone else is, "Good Luck with that".