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Obama Calls on Private Sector IT Pros to fix HealthCare.gov

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 63 comments
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While the US is just now beginning to recover from a two-week long political standoff over President Obama’s health care reform measures, some people have been filing complaints about the HealthCare.gov website relating to significant technical issues.

Earlier on Monday, President Obama said that the US is tapping IT talent from all over the country to fix the myriad of problems behind the health insurance exchange site. 

"The Web site that's supposed to make it easy to apply for and purchase the insurance is not working the way it should for everybody… People have been stuck during the application process.” Obama proclaimed, “We are doing everything we can possibly do to get the Web site working better, faster, sooner… Experts from some of America's top private-sector tech companies, who have seen things like this happen before, are reaching out and offering to send help.”

In the mean-time, President Obama said that potential insurance buyers could sign up for health care by phone or in-person.
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  • 15 Hide
    radiovan , October 22, 2013 12:55 AM
    Quote:
    As a European, may I ask what everyone's problem is with the new health care system? I live in one of the most expensive countries in the world (US prices for most things I can only dream of) and better health coverage despite paying significantly less. Without saying Obama's specific implementation is any better I don't think the US system of "let the private sector dictate health care" has been a success, so chance seems of essence. Yet it doesn't seem like the problem the republicans have with the health care reform is the specific implementation, instead its that the government has anything to do with health care at all?
    Or am I getting this all wrong? Its not always easy to decipher things across such a distance, so any explanation would be appreciated =)


    The US "private sector" has not dictated anything in the past 50 some years. If you mean the sadly Marxist/national socialist system that has been slowly creeping into the system through the ever so growing government then yes, the ObamaCare would make every living Marxist proud.

    In an actual free-market system (without any gov't coercion) the prices of health care would be a lot less (not just the USA); enter the government and you get regulated price-control that only serves the bought and paid for pocket-lining interest groups, hence the higher and higher prices and lower quality service (i.e. Canadian Health Care system, post 1960's).

    Obamacare simply drains the system of resources that are already scares. And this is not Democrats vs Republicans; both parties are under the same corrupt special-interest system. Democrats buy their votes one way, while the Republicans do it another, both corrupting the nation through their unethical and immoral practices.
  • 10 Hide
    jhansonxi , October 21, 2013 7:30 PM
    Part of the problem are the regulations which control government procurement. They practically guarantee failure. The fact that the site functioned at all makes it look good compared to past IT projects of the FBI and IRS.
  • 10 Hide
    none12345 , October 21, 2013 6:50 PM
    Go call one of the major MMORPG players. They know a thing or two about scalable hardware.

    The fact that they have already spent 400 million on that joke of a site, is beyond sad at this point.

    Some of the major game players probably could have done the entire thing for 30 million instead of 400 million, and it would probably work just fine(with perhaps the exception of day 1 congestion). As long as its not EA anyway; recent history has taught us they probably couldn't have done it any better, lol.
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  • 10 Hide
    none12345 , October 21, 2013 6:50 PM
    Go call one of the major MMORPG players. They know a thing or two about scalable hardware.

    The fact that they have already spent 400 million on that joke of a site, is beyond sad at this point.

    Some of the major game players probably could have done the entire thing for 30 million instead of 400 million, and it would probably work just fine(with perhaps the exception of day 1 congestion). As long as its not EA anyway; recent history has taught us they probably couldn't have done it any better, lol.
  • -9 Hide
    mjw , October 21, 2013 7:13 PM
    They should just junk what was built, copy the California website which works fine, change the branding here and there from California to Federal, and deploy it - problem solved!
  • 7 Hide
    bigshootr8 , October 21, 2013 7:15 PM
    @MJW that doesn't account for the web traffic that a site receives on a National level. But I do agree to a certain extent if its not working maybe a re work should be done.
  • -8 Hide
    bigshootr8 , October 21, 2013 7:15 PM
    @MJW that doesn't account for the web traffic that a site receives on a National level. But I do agree to a certain extent if its not working maybe a re work should be done.
  • 5 Hide
    jayracer7474 , October 21, 2013 7:22 PM
    this was made to fail and that has been the point the whole time, whats worse than the site is the health coverage you get when you sign up
  • 5 Hide
    SteelCity1981 , October 21, 2013 7:24 PM
    So he wants people to fix a website for a broken healthcare system he implemented. irony.
  • 10 Hide
    jhansonxi , October 21, 2013 7:30 PM
    Part of the problem are the regulations which control government procurement. They practically guarantee failure. The fact that the site functioned at all makes it look good compared to past IT projects of the FBI and IRS.
  • 3 Hide
    leoscott , October 21, 2013 7:38 PM
    bigshootr8, Maybe if they had gone to the right people at first, US citizens instead of Canada, they may have found someone who could deal with the scalability problem. I'm sure people on this sight could name at least 10 companies who get more hits a day on their websites than healthcare.gov has had since it's release. Google, Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Microsoft, YouTube, Yahoo, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Twitter. We have people who know how to do this but the administration needs to buy a raffle ticket for a tractor. Then they can tie a chain to it and pull their head out. With this level of planning the future might not be bright.
  • 2 Hide
    bigshootr8 , October 21, 2013 7:48 PM
    @leoscott while I'm not in favor of the bill I completely agree with you why not work with big companies like google, microsoft and amazon to get a site like that working correctly. I just feel in a lot of ways the government will always be technology challenged.
  • 0 Hide
    COLGeek , October 21, 2013 7:50 PM
    Obama Calls on Private Sector IT Pros to fix HealthCare.gov...because that is who the government hires to do such work.

    I think it fair to say, that this is the largest public-interest web presence that the US has ever undertaken. It is also fair to say that V1 was beta released a tad bit early. It will get better.
  • 4 Hide
    bigshootr8 , October 21, 2013 7:52 PM
    Quote:
    Obama Calls on Private Sector IT Pros to fix HealthCare.gov...because that is who the government hires to do such work.

    I think it fair to say, that this is the largest public-interest web presence that the US has ever undertaken. It is also fair to say that V1 was beta released a tad bit early. It will get better.


    While it may or may not get better considering its the most Expensive web site ever assembled you'd think in the time that they've had to construct it it would be stronger and more well made and able to deal with more web traffic.
  • 3 Hide
    COLGeek , October 21, 2013 7:54 PM
    True, the roll-out was terrible and could have been much better. No argument there.
  • 9 Hide
    kenyee , October 21, 2013 8:03 PM
    lol...I'm an IT person...how can I help and milk the system like the politicians are doing? ;-)
  • 4 Hide
    beoza , October 21, 2013 8:22 PM
    I can fix it...I have a big roll of duck tape! Duck tape fixes everything!
  • 6 Hide
    nicodemus_mm , October 21, 2013 8:44 PM
    Funny that the private sector is coming to rescue the roll-out of a system that should never have been put in the hands of the public sector in the first place.

    I can't wait until healthcare workers are eventually made federal employees. Then we get to see the rampant incompetence and waste of a national bureaucracy applied in a new and terrifying way.

    Think about it.... This current farce is just the interface. A simple sign-on process. Does anyone in their right mind really think that managing a nation's healthcare system is going to be easier than the sign-up process? What do you think the healthcare is going to be like when they can't even handle a web page?

    We deserve this. The Apathy, Laziness, and Greed of the American Voter may finally result in something that gets their attention.... but I doubt it.
  • 0 Hide
    simple_inhibition , October 21, 2013 9:09 PM
    maybe he should nationalize the IT sector next xD
  • 3 Hide
    radiovan , October 21, 2013 10:05 PM
    Government/bureaucrats : creating solutions to problems it created.

    Health care coverage is a choice for most people not a right. Government steps in to solve this "issue" by mandating insurance companies to cover any and all regardless of preexisting health issues - because the government knows best - and blames the gimped heartless free-market for being so discriminatory, which the government gimped in the first place, with previous regulations - because the government knows best.

    Enter the all wise and knowing "solution" to the heartless freemarket: ObamaCare! The solution of the ruling class for the brain-dead "poor" majority.
  • 0 Hide
    Martell1977 , October 21, 2013 10:09 PM
    This is a great example of why I cringe whenever I hear anyone in the government talk of doing anything "comprehensive". At least there is a chance of getting something right if they take it step by step and piece by piece, but when the idiots in DC try to tackle big issues all at once....this is what we get. Really getting sick of the "Elephant" and "Ass" show.
  • -1 Hide
    JonathanR , October 22, 2013 12:21 AM
    As a European, may I ask what everyone's problem is with the new health care system? I live in one of the most expensive countries in the world (US prices for most things I can only dream of) and better health coverage despite paying significantly less. Without saying Obama's specific implementation is any better I don't think the US system of "let the private sector dictate health care" has been a success, so chance seems of essence. Yet it doesn't seem like the problem the republicans have with the health care reform is the specific implementation, instead its that the government has anything to do with health care at all?
    Or am I getting this all wrong? Its not always easy to decipher things across such a distance, so any explanation would be appreciated =)
  • 15 Hide
    radiovan , October 22, 2013 12:55 AM
    Quote:
    As a European, may I ask what everyone's problem is with the new health care system? I live in one of the most expensive countries in the world (US prices for most things I can only dream of) and better health coverage despite paying significantly less. Without saying Obama's specific implementation is any better I don't think the US system of "let the private sector dictate health care" has been a success, so chance seems of essence. Yet it doesn't seem like the problem the republicans have with the health care reform is the specific implementation, instead its that the government has anything to do with health care at all?
    Or am I getting this all wrong? Its not always easy to decipher things across such a distance, so any explanation would be appreciated =)


    The US "private sector" has not dictated anything in the past 50 some years. If you mean the sadly Marxist/national socialist system that has been slowly creeping into the system through the ever so growing government then yes, the ObamaCare would make every living Marxist proud.

    In an actual free-market system (without any gov't coercion) the prices of health care would be a lot less (not just the USA); enter the government and you get regulated price-control that only serves the bought and paid for pocket-lining interest groups, hence the higher and higher prices and lower quality service (i.e. Canadian Health Care system, post 1960's).

    Obamacare simply drains the system of resources that are already scares. And this is not Democrats vs Republicans; both parties are under the same corrupt special-interest system. Democrats buy their votes one way, while the Republicans do it another, both corrupting the nation through their unethical and immoral practices.
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