Why the President Will Euthanize HealthCare.gov in 2014

The Weekly Standard ^ | November 12, 2013 | Michael Astrue, former HHS general counsel & commissioner of Social Security

[2ndDivisionVet]

The launch of the health exchanges has produced diverse images of failure: blank screens, improperly released Social Security numbers; a White House official undermining congressional oversight on September 6, 2013, with a phony security certification; and political appointees blaming their failures on unexpected enthusiasm for the exchanges—a fiction reminiscent of Cold War Soviets touting food lines as evidence of enthusiasm for a five-year agricultural plan causing widespread starvation.

One of the most striking recent images was that of a shaken president twice reciting the toll-free number for the exchanges. He did so to encourage frustrated Americans to abandon HealthCare.gov temporarily as he made the unfulfillable promise that contractors would “fix” in just one month a sick system that took 42 months to metastasize into its current form. It is an image to remember because you will see it again when President Obama acknowledges he cannot honor that promise.

One of the nicest and most competent members of the Obama administration, former acting OMB director Jeffrey Zients, has been tasked with fixing HealthCare.gov in one month by leading a tech “surge” (I’ll leave the ironies of that phrase alone). Poor Jeff is set up for inevitable failure. While the HHS definition of “fix” will surely become whatever level of functionality its armies of contractors have achieved by December 1, any claim of a “fix” will haunt this administration.

Due to inept planning in the first two years of implementation, HealthCare.gov became a patchwork of hastily constructed systems that contractors then even more hastily stitched together. To meet their deadlines, these contractors, with the blessing of their political overseers, cut corners on key security features....

[reformedliberal]

In California, I have read that there are already lawsuits over the insurance companies neglecting to inform policyholders that plans *that have not been changed since 2010* are grandfathered. I don’t know if price increases or tightening of Preferred Provider participants qualifies as a *change*. I know that my husband’s premium was due to be increased last year solely due to zer0care. He was able to switch to a Bridge Policy in time to avoid a a 40% increase for 2013 and who knows what sort of increase thereafter.

This *change* rule is the basis for the bots claiming the entire problem of cancellation is on the insurance companies.

My husband is on a professional massage forum where a bot posted last week in favor of zer0care. He had no one agreeing with him.He segued to “give it a chance”. He included reflexive jabs at Republicans, Tea Party and insurance companies. Yesterday, he took his discussions/rants private with the few people who had successfully raised real issues with him.

Even the bots are seeking cover.