We Spent WHAT?!!! (Someone Call Go Daddy!)

  In my introductory post last week, I promised that this week's entry would be about the PPACA, a/k/a "Obamacare." I'm going to start that discussion this week with the simplest of problems regarding the rollout of Obamacare, that being the fatally flawed website.

Let me start by saying that although I've been surfing around the internet since 1995, I'm no tech wizard about any of this. I'm just a guy asking questions about a website that failed miserably for the first two weeks it was in operation. I consider it the simplest part of the grand Obamacare equation because sooner or later, this problem will get fixed, (no doubt at additional taxpayer expense,)something I can't say for sure about the rest of the law. (More on that next week.)

Depending on whom you read, the Healthcare.gov website, which was built by CGI Federal, a wholly owned U. S. subsidiary of CGI Group Inc., (a Canadian company) cost the taxpayers anywhere from $200 - 645 million. And, (oh, by the way,) it was a no-bid contract.

If, at this point, you are harkening back to the days of the $600 hammer and the $500 toilet seat, you are not alone. So, I did some listening and asked some questions. Many of the website designers said that this was a $1-2 million job. Allowing for an obscene 100% profit margin, call it $2-4 million. One guy who was interviewed by Sean Hannity said he'd be embarrassed to charge more than $500,000 for the job. So, considering the price tag involved, this starts to have the distinct odor of a political payback, speculation about which is running rampant. (Does the name "Solyndra" ring a bell?) Either way, we basically got royally screwed on the price, and the no-bid nature of the contract raises the stench to even higher levels.

After all this and with three years to get this "primo" site up and running, what happens day one? EPIC FAIL. Total crash. Six whole people signed up. Why, at this rate we might get everyone signed up over the next 3000 years or so. Of course, the folks who gave us this wonderful website had no specifics to give us about any of this. The only sound we heard from Washington was "It's working, it's just not up to full capacity yet." Once the site stayed "down" for the better part of the first week, the "It's working," was replaced by crickets.

Several folks who are far more knowledgeable about these issues than I am had varying predictions as to how long it will take to clean up the mess. Best case scenario I heard was the end of November, with the worst case being a total revamp and a matter of months rather than days.

With this situation as it is, one would think that the Administration would extend the personal mandate for a year as they did with the employer mandate. That, however, poses another problem: It puts both mandates in front of the populace in an election year. All those folks who are receiving cancellation notices because their existing policy did not meet the Obamacare "standards" to be "grandfathered" in, would now be getting those notices again one year hence.

No one is yet certain as to what effect the employer mandate will have at this time next year, but my guess is it will be BRUTAL. Considering that the vast majority of health insurance is purchased  by employers for their employees, the impact of that deadline could be much more broadly felt (and painful) than the one we face now. A LOT of small businesses are simply going to say, "I can't afford the new premium, so I'll just pay the fine and let my employees fend for themselves." Imagine how happy all those people are going to be going into next November, an off-year election. This is political MADNESS.

Next, let's look at a couple of things about the site. Most everyone with any tech savvy has bought an airline ticket or a hotel room online. You basically shop around, look at your options and decide on the an itinerary and THEN make your purchase. You're not required to give up any personal information until you come to the "checkout" portion of the transaction.

On the other hand, before you go anywhere on the government site, you have to establish a profile. Before you have even thought about a "buying" decision, you're already giving this site personal information. Not to sound too much like a "conspiracy theorist," but considering the NSA scandals surrounding data mining and such, am I the only one who is just a wee bit skeptical about giving up ANY info just so I can get to where I can see my options?

And of course, with all this flow of information going to the government site, how are we supposed to be certain that our confidential information will be secure? Based on the performance of the site to date, let's just say I would not bet the rent money on it. Sounds like a whole new tune, "Hackers Delight," might be in the offing.

In doing my morning reading before starting this post, I noticed that there was a press release from  CGI essentially saying they had WARNED the administration of the impending crash. Interesting.

How is it possible that with the better part of three years to make sure this site would function, it failed so miserably? If I'd hired GoDaddy (I use them as an example only,) to do a website for me and it crashed and burned the first day out, I'd not only be rather pissed, but I'd be asking for a FULL REFUND of my $600 million right before I found someone else to finish (or completely re-do) the job. How long do you think GoDaddy would stay in business with one or two major screw-ups like this?

And, if I was the guy in charge of making sure this web launch went off seamlessly, I suspect that I'd be working on my resume and worrying about where I was going to get my next job. Instead, NO ONE has been fired or even (to my knowledge) REPRIMANDED for this major blow to the Administration's signature program. Is it possible that maybe someone should have just called GoDaddy in the first place?

At the very least, this speaks to the questionable competence of those in charge and makes you wonder why this was a no-bid job.

As I said at the top, this is the LEAST important issue that faces us all from Obamacare. While it is something that (one would think) could be easily fixed, we'll see how well that goes. My guess is that those who are predicting a two month delay in getting the site up and running are probably closer to the truth than those who think it will be a matter of days.

Next week, I'll go into the more serious problems with the PPACA and the less-than-truthful way in which the Administration has dealt with the reality of Obamacare.