dagblog - Comments for "The Obamacare Website Could Stay Broken for a While "

Franke-Ruta's second article,

Peter Schwartz — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 00:00:54 +0000

In reply to The Infinite Bewilderment of

Franke-Ruta's second article, in particular, is very good.

The Infinite Bewilderment of

artappraiser — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 19:46:05 +0000

In reply to The Obamacare Website Could Stay Broken for a While

The Infinite Bewilderment of Signing Up for Obamacare Subsidies
You thought there was nothing worse than doing your taxes. You were wrong.
By Garance Franke-Ruta, TheAtlantic.com, Nov. 5, 2013

Beyond 'I'm Sorry': 5 Ideas to Help Make Obamacare Work
Sure, the president apologized to those whose insurance has been canceled. But fixing the new program will take more than words
By Garance Franke-Ruta, TheAtlantic.com, Nov. 8, 2013

Health Site Chief Expects Low

artappraiser — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 23:35:24 +0000

In reply to The Obamacare Website Could Stay Broken for a While

Health Site Chief Expects Low Initial Enrollment Number
By Robert Pear, New York Times, Oct. 29/30, 2013

Marilyn B. Tavenner apologized to Americans seeking to use the new exchanges, but repeatedly refused to say how many of those people had actually enrolled in plans since the federal and state marketplaces opened

Obama administration knew

artappraiser — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 23:23:32 +0000

In reply to The Obamacare Website Could Stay Broken for a While

Obama administration knew millions could not keep their health insurance
By Lisa Myers and Hannah Rappleye, NBC News Investigations, October 28, 2013

President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.

Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC News that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience “sticker shock.”

None of this should come as a shock to the Obama administration. The law states that policies in effect as of March 23, 2010 will be “grandfathered,” meaning consumers can keep those policies even though they don’t meet requirements of the new health care law. But the Department of Health and Human Services then wrote regulations that narrowed that provision, by saying that if any part of a policy was significantly changed since that date -- the deductible, co-pay, or benefits, for example -- the policy would not be grandfathered.

Buried in Obamacare regulations from July 2010 is an estimate that because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, “40 to 67 percent” of customers will not be able to keep their policy. And because many policies will have been changed since the key date, “the percentage of individual market policies losing grandfather status in a given year exceeds the 40 to 67 percent range.”

That means the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them.

Yet President Obama, who had promised in 2009, “if you like your health plan, you will be able to keep your health plan,” was still saying in 2012, “If [you] already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance.” [....]

Administration finally admits

artappraiser — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 21:12:12 +0000

In reply to The Obamacare Website Could Stay Broken for a While

Administration finally admits serious bugs, has fired the Center for Medicare Services as the boss, and hired Quality Software Services to replace them. Target date to get it working is the end of November:

‘General Contractor’ Named to Fix Health Web Site
By Robert Pear, New York Times, Oct. 25/26, 2013

WASHINGTON — In an abrupt shift, the Obama administration on Friday named a “general contractor” to fix the troubled Web site of the federal health insurance marketplace, and said the repairs would be completed by the end of next month.

In addition, Jeffrey D. Zients, President Obama’s troubleshooter for the marketplace, said that investigators had found bugs in the software that powers the site.

That finding differs from the original explanation about the problems that have crippled the Web site. Administration officials initially said that the difficulties occurred because the number of people trying to use the site far exceeded their expectations, and they played down other factors.

Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the general contractor that would fix the Web site was Quality Software Services. Mr. Zients said the company would “manage the overall effort,” like a general contractor on a home improvement project.

The company “will prioritize the needed fixes and make sure they get done,” Mr. Zients said.

“The HealthCare.gov site is fixable,” said Mr. Zients, a management expert named as troubleshooter on Tuesday. “It will take a lot of work. A lot of problems need to be addressed. But let me be clear. HealthCare.gov is fixable.”

“By the end of November,” he said, “HealthCare.gov will work smoothly for the vast majority of users.”

That self-imposed deadline comes just two weeks before the Dec. 15 deadline for people to sign up for insurance that takes effect on Jan. 1.

The open enrollment period continues until March 31. People who go without insurance after that date may be subject to tax penalties.

However, the chaos and confusion with the federal marketplace have prompted some Democrats and many Republicans to suggest that the penalties should be deferred or the enrollment period extended.

The designation of a project coordinator represents a radical change in management of the federal insurance marketplace. Until now, the Medicare agency, led by Marilyn B. Tavenner, was the quarterback, or system integrator, trying to coordinate the work of dozens of contractors [....]

The White House's 5-Month

artappraiser — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 16:28:39 +0000

In reply to The Obamacare Website Could Stay Broken for a While

The White House's 5-Month Plan for Obamacare
The president sketched out the big picture Monday morning. Here's the fine print.
By Garance Franke-Ruta, The Atlantic, Oct. 22, 2013

Contractors See Weeks of Work

artappraiser — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 13:26:13 +0000

In reply to The Obamacare Website Could Stay Broken for a While

Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site
By Sharon LaFraniere, Ian Austen and Robert Pear, New York Times, Oct. 20, 2013

[....] Administration officials approached the contractors last week to see if they could perform the necessary repairs and reboot the system by Nov. 1. However, that goal struck many contractors as unrealistic, at least for major components of the system. Some specialists working on the project said the online system required such extensive repairs that it might not operate smoothly until after the Dec. 15 deadline for people to sign up for coverage starting in January, although that view is not universally shared.

In interviews, experts said the technological problems of the site went far beyond the roadblocks to creating accounts that continue to prevent legions of users from even registering. Indeed, several said, the login problems, though vexing to consumers, may be the easiest to solve. One specialist said that as many as five million lines of software code may need to be rewritten before the Web site runs properly.

“The account creation and registration problems are masking the problems that will happen later,” said one person involved in the repair effort. [....]

Over the weekend, officials sought to counter pronouncements of failure by announcing that almost half a million people have submitted applications for health insurance through the federal and state marketplaces, about half of them through state exchanges. But officials declined to say how many have actually enrolled in insurance plans, and executives from insurance companies, which receive the enrollment files from the government, say their numbers have been low. The enrollment period ends March 31; those who go without coverage may be subject to fines. [....]

One major problem slowing repairs, people close to the program say, is that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency in charge of the exchange, is responsible for making sure that the separately designed databases and pieces of software from 55 contractors work together. It is not common for a federal agency to assume that role, and numerous people involved in the project said the agency did not have the expertise to do the job and did not fully understand what it entailed. [....]

Communications between the administration and contractors improved over the weekend as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began negotiating agreements with contractors on responsibility and deadlines for repairs, people involved in the project say. They hope to have a plan before a Congressional hearing set for Thursday.

“The issue right now is between C.M.S. and the White House,” a specialist said Friday before communications improved. “Everybody sits and waits and the meter runs.” [....]

Insurance executives said in interviews that they were frustrated because they did not know the government’s plan or schedule for repairs. Insurers have found that the system provides them with incorrect information about some enrollees, repeatedly enrolls and cancels the enrollments of others, and simply loses the enrollments of still others.

Correcting those errors, specialists said, could require extensive rewriting of software code. Insurers said it could be weeks before their data and the government’s could be reconciled.

Accurate enrollment data is essential. Even if consumers bypass the federal Web site and go directly to insurance companies to sign up for coverage, the Treasury Department will still need enrollment data to pay tens of billions of dollars in subsidies promised to insurers. [.....]

And, of course, doing things

Verified Atheist — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 11:36:58 +0000

In reply to I have been here in the south

And, of course, doing things on the cheap can actually be really expensive.

Health Care Sign-Ups: This Is

artappraiser — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 00:55:42 +0000

In reply to The Obamacare Website Could Stay Broken for a While

Health Care Sign-Ups: This Is What Transparency Looks Like
By Charles Ornstein, ProPublica, Oct. 14, 2013

[...] Federal officials have proudly proclaimed the number of visitors to the healthcare.gov site, as in this tweet [....] But they have declined numerous opportunities to provide enrollment figures. The latest example: A New York Times article on Sunday about the site’s problems included this sentence: “Neither [CMS administrator Marilyn] Tavenner nor other agency officials would answer questions about the exchange or its performance last week.”

Reporters and consumers across the country have said they are simply unable to enroll on the site. You can read about my experience.

Federal officials have said that they will release enrollment figures once a month, beginning in November.

Those interested in what transparency looks like can check the states. Some examples of those that have put out numbers [.....]

I have been here in the south

trkingmomoe — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 21:51:16 +0000

In reply to "It's called southern

I have been here in the south for 30 years and it is the way they run local government. Must do everything on the cheap no matter how much the spending is needed to keep the area's economy going. They like cheap slave labor.