Thoughts from Richard Epstein.
Even its supporters are having trouble excusing it. Read this from Ezra Klein.
Hey, it’s not like this wasn’t perfectly predictable, and predicted.
[Update a while later]
Was the site crash caused by rate shock?
[Update a few minutes later]
Wow, even the New York Times is becoming racist:
“These are not glitches,” said an insurance executive who has participated in many conference calls on the federal exchange. Like many people interviewed for this article, the executive spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying he did not wish to alienate the federal officials with whom he works. “The extent of the problems is pretty enormous. At the end of our calls, people say, ‘It’s awful, just awful.’ ”
Interviews with two dozen contractors, current and former government officials, insurance executives and consumer advocates, as well as an examination of confidential administration documents, point to a series of missteps — financial, technical and managerial — that led to the troubles.
It’s almost like these people think politics is more important than actually competently running the government.
Related article:
Feds reviewed only one bid for Obamacare website design
Federal officials considered only one firm to design the Obamacare health insurance exchange website that has performed abysmally since its Oct. 1 debut.
Rather than open the contracting process to a competitive public solicitation with multiple bidders, officials in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid accepted a sole bidder, CGI Federal, the U.S. subsidiary of a Canadian company with an uneven record of IT pricing and contract performance.
CMS officials are tight-lipped about why CGI was chosen or how it happened. They also refuse to say if other firms competed with CGI, or if there was ever a public solicitation for building Healthcare.gov, the backbone of Obamacare’s problem-plagued web portal.
Instead, it appears they used what amounts to a federal procurement system loophole to award the work to the Canadian firm.
The insurance executive’s fear about federal reprisal is chilling. Hope and change indeed.
That sounds really great… Feels like home.
What I mean is it seems like a disaster in procurement.
I wonder if Red Jim and Admiral Gerrib will come in and try to polish this turd.
The implementation is definitely a mess. It’s been getting better — I don’t have any trouble logging in and seeing what my coverage options are (and they’re much better and cheaper than what I have now), but there are occasional errors and clearly lots of people are stymied. Right now it’s a race against time — can they fix the worst of the problems by the December 15 deadline for buying coverage to start January 1?
There isn’t any excuse for the problems, but I don’t think they say anything about the desirability of the exchanges, any more than the Air Force’s failed IT projects say anything about the desirability of Air Force IT.
Jim,
Are your available coverage options cheaper than your current insurance, considering both the premiums and the annual deductibles, or just the premiums?
From what I’ve read since October 1, I think the annual deductible is going to be an unpleasant surprise to many folks if they or their children get sick. High annual deductibles will be offset to some extent by the “free” services that everyone is supposed to get, but I haven’t looked for a list of what all those “freebies” are. IIRC, you get a free annual “wellness checkup” and maybe free flu shots and the like. But if folks have to pay full cost for doctor visits for allergy treatments, prescription meds, treatment for a broken bone, etc., until they reach a $4K or greater deductible, I predict some unhappiness out there.
Thanks –
BlueMoon
It’s cheaper considering premiums and deductibles. I’m currently paying $1,356/mo for a two person HSA plan with a $5k deductible, and $10k out-of-pocket cap. On Healthcare.gov I can pay $981 for a two person HSA plan with a $5k deductible and $8k out-of-pocket cap. That’s a 27% drop, a $4,500 savings over one year.
There are other options as well, but none as expensive as what I have now. I can pay $1,165/mo for a $2k deductible, if I want to minimize the deductible, or $800/mo for an $8,600 deductible if I want to pay less in premiums.
“It’s almost like these people think politics is more important than actually competently running the government.”
Almost like? At this point it’s beyond reasonable doubt.