I worked with a Medicare contractor for 26 years testing systems and web applications.

[Lint Head]

Not that it makes me an expert but I can see how this website sign up issue can happen. Programmers are horrible at writing test scenarios. Only people actually using the system can write proper testing scripts. Programmers can write code and test it's correctness beta or otherwise but practical testing has to be done from an objective prospective. I fought this battle for years and even produced a concept that was tested and implemented by contractors across the board.

I think it will come out that there was a wrench in the works. The majority of independent contractors I have worked with not only spout 'code talk' but right wing political talk as well. Not that it's a conspiracy because IT companies want to be successful. One programmer with an axe to grind can make a fiasco out of anything that would take a long time to research while others are busy creating code patches and fixes. I'm not slamming all programmers. The majority are straight up. But there are a percentage of rouges throughout society and I've seen "Don't Tread on Me" flag posters pinned to enough office cubicles to know.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. All true. But that can be managed, no?

Bring in real users to try the system out and record their actions. Start with a limited roll out (say, one state for the first 10 days, then five states...)

I work with complex systems, as you do. We both know that the likelihood for big trouble in this scenario is high. It's staggering to think that the folks responsible for this site seem to have not.

[wandy]

4. Sometimes even beta tests (real users) won't shake out all of the problems........

One would hope that the group that tested this was NOT the group that developed it.
Even the most honest of developers will tend to test what they "know" works. The logical process that developed the product all but precludes most of the wild and wacky stuff real users may try to do.
An independent test group can develop a sort of "friendly adversarial" relationship with development.
With the products I worked with their was no way for a gradual "roll out".
Develop the CTP, test the daylights out of it, let a few interested customers put it into production, then turn it loose and hope for the best.
At which time the first "real user" will do something so unexpected that the end result is smoke.

Why would I bet that the overall QA person on that project isn't getting a heck of a lot of sleep of late.

Again, hopefully, problems, and recreate procedures are feed to a problem log and their are people working on fixes.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Why couldn't this software be rolled out to one or two states first?

Then add another few every few days? This would help shake out problems, and balance the load, because everyone wouldn't be hammering the system at the same time.

[wandy]

6. I don't know but this might be a guess..........

Think of the fun the GOP could have had if one (any) ACA unfriendly came first.
Why was that state getting preferential treatment? Obama is trying to turn the stat blue by giving out "free stuff".
or...
Why was that state used as a genie-pig? Was that state targeted?

In short, politics.

Not making excuses. If we are going to vendor things out we should be highly critical of vendor practices.
But, oh, my, my the shear luxury of a gradual roll out. Just having part of the world ticked off at you at a time, rather than the whole shooting match all at once.

[Lint Head]

8. When I did systems testing, I would not just follow the test scripts. I would attempt everything I

possibly could to 'break' the system. Some times it would piss off a 'higher up' but I didn't care because the integrity of the system was more important than the vanity of a systems programming administrator. And I have been rewarded with bonuses for finding unexpected issues and promoted for being innovative. (Thought I'd toot my horn just a little.) Ha.

[truedelphi]

2. But CGI, the company that screwed up so badly,

already had a poor reputation at the time it was selected.
From a similar DailyKos article:
And there were plenty of signs that CGI was generally incompetent, such as this:

Last year, the Canadian province of Ontario fired CGI and canceled a $46 million contract, accusing the company of failing to build an online medical registry on time.

And thank you for your on going battle to try and talk programmers and the companies that hire them (which are often run by programmer types) into realizing that they simply "know too much."

When I took a class in tech writing many years ago at UC Berkeley, our first assignment was to describe in as many steps as we needed some activity that we were experts at.

And the reason for that assignment was to show us that since we knew what we were talking about, we assumed that others also "knew" basic information, and so the whole class of us forgot to write out the more important steps to successfully handling the activities we had each chosen.

[HockeyMom]

3. I signed up for Medicare in August Online

Haven't had insurance since I quit my job 2 years ago. HOWEVER, Medicare did not ask a thousand questions like apparently the ACA does. I got my card a month after I applied but still will not be eligble until November 1st. While Part B did ask about my family income, I did not have to give any proof of income, or even my identity.

They certainly did not ask about my medical HISTORY, which it seems ACA is asking. I smoke and not PENALIZED for that at 65 years old with Medicare Same with my BMI, which PRIVATE insurance also demands and penalizes. I am 100 lbs. Sorry, NO are not testing me for that either.

I like Medicare so far better, than my former private insurance, or what the ACA seems to be doing.

[Sedona]

7. ACA is not asking for medical history.

[truedelphi]

12. But the ACA website asks for your Social Security number and other personal

info - just to let an individual "go shopping."

At least, that was one of Jon Stewart's complaints about the website.

All this means that people like me and my spouse will probably pay the penalty and wait a year for the system faults and glitches to be taken care of, before going into the system.

[GoCubsGo]

9. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this was the case.

Nor, would it surprise me if there's some hacking-type shenanigans going on that are screwing thing up. I put nothing past these assholes.

[Lint Head]

10. Look at the screwball Ted Cruz. (I can't) He has a percent of follwers who are programmers.

It was Canadian company CGI who did the programming. Ted Cruz was born it which country? Hmmmmm.

[tkmorris]

11. I hate rouge programmers

But it's the magenta ones that really cheese me off.

[Hestia]

13. now now