The fact is that this disaster is a perfect example of the law of cause and effect in human action. Ayn Rand's Objectivist theory of "psycho-epistemology" predicts that force and fraud are less effective than pursuation and truth. Objectivists mean the term "muscle mystics" to identify people who worship material assets which they expect to give them power. In this case the mere possession of computers (and programmers, et al.) was supposed to bring success.
Some comparisons and contrast to Amazon, eBay, and other largescale data enterprises have been offered, but they all grew successfully and somewhat painfully. This project could not begin until it was funded and then instant success was supposed to come, like the beanstalk that grew to the clouds overnight.
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. CGI says that it is in talks to resolve that issue.
CGI has declined comment to NBC News for weeks on the troubled rollout. A General Accounting Office report lists it as the largest contractor supporting exchanges for Obamacare, with $88 million paid through March 31.
[Note in the article that the revenues doubled in one quarter, but another article below reports that the price of its common stock remains flat. -- MEM]
NBC News online here.
The original program cost was supposed to be $92 million. It is now over $290 million.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI), wrote an editorial in USA Today alerting America that all those glitches may simply be a precursor to larger security problems.
The Federal Data Services Hub (Hub) is a central component to the Obamacare exchanges. Hub connects seven different government agencies and establishes new access points to American’s most sensitive and personal information. Rep. Rogers explains, “Social Security numbers, employment information, birth dates, health records and tax returns are among the personal data that will be transmitted to this hub, consolidating an unprecedented amount of information. Every shred of data one would need to steal your identity or access your confidential credit information would be available at the fingertips of a skilled hacker, producing a staggering security threat.”
Washington Times here
Even the phone number comes with challenges. Two of the security questions required during the initial phone call are:
1. The name of maternal grandfather. Some callers need a few minutes to recall that name.
2. Name of favorite video game. Another question that could give some callers pause.
Washington Times here
[And just to note: I went to the healthcare.gov website and to register, you need an email address. You do not need a phone number or a street address. If you do not have an email address, the site provides links to Google, Yahoo, Outlook, and AOL. - MEM]
Massachusetts launched its health insurance program "at the beginning of 2007," Gruber said, "but enrollment didn't fully flesh out for a year." In fact, it was less than 6% of the year's total by the end of the second month. "But the mandate didn't come into place until the end of the year, and you could sign up any time."
That differs from the federal and state exchanges; people must sign up by Dec. 15 to receive insurance by Jan. 1, and by March 31 to avoid a fine for violating the individual mandate portion of the law. The March 31 date is a concession to insurers, who feared that allowing open enrollment would mean people would sign up for insurance as they were diagnosed with an illness. USA Today here.
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