Posted on 11/13/2013 2:11:23 PM PST by Kaslin
If you've read this, or this, or this, or this, today's Washington Post report is hardly a shocking bulletin:
Software problems with the federal online health insurance marketplace, especially in handling high volumes, are proving so stubborn that the system is unlikely to work fully by the end of the month as the White House has promised, according to an official with knowledge of the project. The insurance exchange is balking when more than 20,000 to 30,000 people attempt to use it at the same time — about half its intended capacity, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal information. And CGI Federal, the main contractor that built the site, has succeeded in repairing only about six of every 10 of the defects it has addressed so far...This inside view of the halting nature of HealthCare.gov repairs is emerging as the insurance industry is working behind the scenes on contingency plans, in case the site continues to have problems. And it calls into question the repeated assurances by the White House and other top officials that the insurance exchange will work smoothly for the vast majority of Americans by Nov. 30.
One of the administration's Obamacare techies is testifying on Capitol Hill today. Are there signs of regression?
US chief tech officer Park,who said in early Oct. that system could handle 60K users, now says it currently can handle 25K — Philip Klein (@philipaklein) November 13, 2013
The administration continues to insist that the site is on track to be fixed by the end of the month:
The Obama administration continues to stand behind its prediction that it will fix the Obamacare website "for the vast majority of users" by the end of the month, administration spokesperson Jennifer Palmieri confirms over e-mail.
Either they're foolishly lying to buy time, are they're still in the dark about real progress (and keeping their fingers crossed...again). Or perhaps this is all misdirection. An intriguing theory:
Is it possible that the admin is leaking dire tidings about exchange so they can deliver an upside surprise? — Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) November 13, 2013
The White House's problem throughout this ordeal has been vast over-promising -- to the point of dishonesty. Could they be scheming to flip the script by making things sound worse for the time being, only to reveal that things are actually less bad than expected? It's possible, I suppose, but seems unlikely. Such a maneuver would entail coordination and competence, qualities that are in short supply within this administration. And pulling this rabbit out of a hat would also defy the evidence presented in the stories linked in the first sentence of this post. Beyond that, Allahpundit makes an excellent point: If Democrats are truly on the brink of breaking from the White House in droves, spoon feeding hysteria-inducing tales of woe to the media is a terrible way of maintaining team morale. Democrats are in the midst of a crisis of confidence. Ugly headlines are the last thing the administration needs. And CNN says trouble is still a-brewin':
told house dems hit admin officials hard in caucus meeting this am on obamacare - even liberals said they better come up w/ fix by friday — Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) November 13, 2013
The issue is that "coming up with a fix" is much easier said than done, for reasons I explained earlier. Liberal website TPM flayed Mary Landrieu's ass-covering "keep your plan" legislation in early November, explicating how her "solution" -- now backed by Dianne Feinstein -- actually undermines core underpinnings of the law:
Part of the problem is that this would unwind Obamacare's guarantees of quality coverage and affordable prices, which were the basis of two important -- and popular -- market reforms under Obamacare: community rating (insurers cannot charge sick people more) and guaranteed issue (insurers cannot deny coverage to anyone)..."If what she's saying is you can keep your health plan forever if you like it, that basically repeals the market reforms," Jost said. "You're continuing to allow people to buy a defective product. You're segmenting the risk pool again with respect for coverage...Landrieu's plan could also disrupt the premiums set by insurers because a chunk of their expected customers would no longer be enrolling in the marketplaces. "Mechanically that's very difficult," Jost said. "It basically denies people the community-rating advantages that were the whole reason -- or one of the reasons -- for the law in the first place. ... So you're just moving the problem down the road a bit, but in the meantime it really messes over the insurance companies because they've written their premiums based on knowing who their pool would be, and that's based on knowing what sorts of people would sign up early on."
Argument one: We shouldn't let people regain their "defective" plans. I'll let Obamacare supporter Kirsten Powers handle that one. Argument two: Obamacare's financial model can't afford not to gouge younger, healthier people. That's exactly right. Please make this point in public, Democrats. And good luck with that. Conn raises some fair concerns about a few flaws within the GOP-backed "keep your plan" bill, which will receive a vote on Friday. Landrieu's bill is simultaneously "better" and less feasible. But I'm with Jim Geraghty on this. The House-passed bill is exceedingly unlikely to become law, so Republicans shouldn't sweat the policy details. Seize the turn-key populist messaging and make Democrats squirm. They bought and broke this law. Let them own it forever.
There is no fix...
Park the “tech genius” from the White House today at the Hearing held totally to the Sebelius etc. party line, we are TRYING SO HARD to make the website accessible to most of the potential users for most of the system by Nov 30.
He was given chance after chance to admit what he HAS TO KNOW if he has a brain, that 30 November was a promise based on a lie.
It will not be ready. It can’t be ready. You can’t fix a complex system like this mess, on the fly. Even if on 1 Dec they declare success — Park today would not even specify what success IS, what they would call success. I.E. he would not even specify a minimal level of what they will consider success on Dec. 1, in case they are not able to even meet that.
A PITY that their testamonies were so SAME OLD, SAME OLD promises and stories, when the Committee asked over and over again for a realistic assessment, because their constituents are asking them!
What a bunch of barf they spewed today! They will live to regret toeing the line.
Anyone who has written a program knows this.
Those who have not written a program thinks it is all black magic anyway so they believe it.
I have written programs.
“Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.”
It’s on track to be fixed at the end of the month. PERIOD. In December he’ll say, “I said, it’s on track to be fixed at the end of the month unless it isn’t fixed.”
Some applicable Murphy’s computer laws:
A patch is a piece of software which replaces old bugs with new bugs.
Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.
Bugs will appear in one part of a working program when another ‘unrelated’ part is modified.
Debugging is at least twice as hard as writing the program in the first place.
I hope they swing for the fence!
"...she's saying you can keep your health plan forever if you like it, but that basically (1) repeals Obama's market reforms....(2) allows people to buy a defective govt-unapproved product..... (3) segments the risk pool with respect for coverage...(4) disrupts the premiums set by insurers because a chunk of their expected customers would no longer be enrolling in Obama's govt-approved marketplaces.
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STUPID DIMWITS BLINDLY FOLLOWED BOOBAMBA INTO THE ABYSS-- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Dimwit-Calif) said “I listened to the president and I believed he was correct when he said,' if you liked your plan, you can keep your plan.' I didn’t realize there were all these codicils attached to it. Someone should have stopped him and said — on his staff — ‘There’s this condition and that condition,’ ” Feinstein said.
VOTERS DEMAND TO KNOW: "Why didn't Di/Fi read the bill before voting for it three years ago, and warn voters about what would happen." Dimwits like Di/Fi now hope to dupe the voters---a-g-a-i-n---by creating the impression insurance companies----not Obamacare, and their votes----caused the cancellations. Di/Fi like most of the Dimwits, didn't give a fig about constituents' opposition before this. Di/Fi is ballistic---figures about a million voters could lose policies, thanks to her stupidity...now she's scurrying to save her sorry ***----signing onto Lousisana Dimwit, Mary Landrieu’s bill.
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Mary Landrieu (Dim-La) has legislation all the desperate Dims who stupidly voted for Boobamba/Care think could save their seats......mandating that those "rotten insurance companies" re/offer plans that were cancelled by Obama and Dims own stupidity (a pie-eyed impossibility). "Little Mary Sunshine is desperate---but they got her on tape on the Senate floor---parroting the ruinous Obama phrase "if you like your plan you can keep it."
“Democrats can sign onto different bills (to try to undo the damage), but the message isn’t as important as what people are actually seeing, the facts on the ground (wholesale cancellations),” said a Democratic strategist. “Individual Democratic candidates can try to differentiate themselves, but past election results show that doesn’t work.”
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REMINDER Three years ago, every Democrat voted AGAINST Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi's bill to protect policyholders from the ruinous effects of Obamacare-mandated cancellations, that we are seeing now.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HASTEN THE COLLAPSE OF LIBERALISM? ........get a summary of Republican Mike Enzi's pro- policyholder amendment, with a list of EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT who voted against protecting policyholders. Use the career-ending info in upcoming elections....in letters to the editor, ads, fliers, etc.
That cartoon implies he even gave a proviso; he never did.
So it should not be implied.
The Federal Government Bureaucracy is a one way sewage system. It keeps flushing their crap onto the peasants while occasionally peeking out of their Ivory Towers long enough to inform us that, “we just dont understand”. What we think of as their crap, is really fertilizer! It will only stink for a while...put up with it peasants! soon everything will grow back much greener and nicer...have a nice day.
Translation: Obamacare's economics is dependent upon young healthy people paying more than they should in a free-market system, in order to subsidize the previously-uninsurable.
If people are allowed to buy the coverage of their choice, at free-market rates that reflect their actual cost to the insurer, then that source of subsidy goes away, and the whole Obamacare system becomes unsustainable.
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