Tech experts: Health exchange site needs total overhaul

[B2G]

Yikes.

WASHINGTON — The federal health care exchange was built using 10-year-old technology that may require constant fixes and updates for the next six months and the eventual overhaul of the entire system, technology experts told USA TODAY.

The site could be perfect, but if the systems from which it draws data are not up to speed, it doesn't matter, said John Engates, chief technology officer at Rackspace, a cloud computer service provider.

"It is a core problem in the sense of it's fundamental to this thing actually working, but it's not necessarily a problem that the people who wrote HealthCare.gov can get to," Engates said. "Even if they had a perfect system, it still won't work."

Recent changes have made the exchanges easier to use, but they still require clearing the computer's cache several times, stopping a pop-up blocker, talking to people via Web chat who suggest waiting until the server is not busy, opening links in new windows and clicking on every available possibility on a page in the hopes of not receiving an error message. With those changes, it took one hour to navigate the HealthCare.gov enrollment process Wednesday.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/17/health-exchange-week-three-start-over/2995989/

[donco]

1. I wonder

why they didn't check out who did http://www.medicare.gov/ ?That seems to work pretty well.

[B2G]

2. Healthcare.gov problems reach beyond enrollment

(CBS News) There are growing signs the problems with the Obamacare website, Healthcare.gov, go far beyond trouble signing up.

The so-called glitches have, in fact, made the website unusable for most.

Analysts say the most troubling news is that insurance companies are receiving duplicate sign-up forms from the government - forms that contain highly personal information.

"You're talking about weight, height, age, Social Security number, health history," said Gary Lauer, CEO of eHealth, the country's largest online seller of health insurance. "And I think that individuals who are coming on to these sites just basically want to trust that all this going to be handled properly, and accurately, and securely."


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57608155/healthcare.gov-problems-reach-beyond-enrollment/

[bigdarryl]

3. I heard they picked a company out of Canada to run this site

The Health And Human Services person in charge needs to be fired.But it won't happen because Obama doesn't fire anyone except if your Van Jones

[Puzzledtraveller]

6. I always wondered about that.

Looks like it's all about the optics. Making some heads roll may look like defeat. I have always disagreed with that. I think he would look stronger for it. When it's warranted that is.

[SoCalDem]

4. Hire Google or Amazon.. they know how to run a website

[B2G]

5. Agreed. They hired obvious hacks.

A no-bid contract.

But if they change horses mid stream, you're honesly looking at completely pulling the plug and rolling out in 3+ more years, at a huge cost.

Seriously.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. Hacks or not, they pretty much run the Canadian health care system.

[B2G]

8. The government of Ontario fired them last year

due to missed deadlines.