Gottlieb and Astrue: ObamaCare's Technology Mess

[Valin]

WSJ:

At least a half dozen state exchanges won't offer full online enrollment thanks to unresolved software problems.

SCOTT GOTTLIEB AND MICHAEL ASTRUE

9/30/13

 

President Obama is bracing Americans for inevitable problems as the Affordable Care Act rolls out this week, but what he calls "glitches" are hardly routine. Information technology is ObamaCare's Achilles' heel. The faulty IT will expose Americans to lost data, attempts to enroll online that fail and the risk of fraud.

 

There are two key technological flaws in ObamaCare. First is the "hub"the software to link servers at the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, Homeland Security and state agencies to verify the income and health-insurance status of enrollees and ensure that they are eligible for subsidies. The other flaw is the "portal"the federally run IT platform that is supposed to let consumers compare health plans and select one that best suits their needs.

 

In planning ObamaCare's IT infrastructure, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) dawdled for more than a year under Administrator Donald Berwick until Marilyn Tavenner took over in December 2011. Even then the agency was slow to outsource key contracts and turned to what insiders say were not top-quality programmers. CMS did not sign a contract for a backstop system to process paper verifications and do paper verifications of online applications until July.

 

(Snip)

[clearvision]

I read somewhere that some of the systems that have to be tied in our still in the COBOL computer language on systems never intended to share data directly with other computers.

[Valin]

I read somewhere that some of the systems that have to be tied in our still in the COBOL computer language on systems never intended to share data directly with other computers.

Assume that I am completely ignorant when it comes to computers. I've see the word COBOL and know it is a programming languages, so the question is....What does this mean? I'm assuming this is a bad thing, how so?

[clearvision]

 

I read somewhere that some of the systems that have to be tied in our still in the COBOL computer language on systems never intended to share data directly with other computers.

Assume that I am completely ignorant when it comes to computers. I've see the word COBOL and know it is a programming languages, so the question is....What does this mean? I'm assuming this is a bad thing, how so?

so, COBOL was on of the first (1950's) programming language. When I was in school 30 years ago it was archaic. Our government (social security, medicare, IRS?) computers for the most part are old and tired. Not many new programmers coming out of school to innovate in COBOL. So for health care all these new internet signup up technologies have to be tied into 40 year old systems. Not a pleasant business especially when the programmer pool is very limited.

[clearvision]

Yikes! I don't want to even think of all the government computers being opened up to the internet for O'care. Not than anyone would want to try and hurt USA computer infrastructure.

[Valin]

 

 

I read somewhere that some of the systems that have to be tied in our still in the COBOL computer language on systems never intended to share data directly with other computers.

Assume that I am completely ignorant when it comes to computers. I've see the word COBOL and know it is a programming languages, so the question is....What does this mean? I'm assuming this is a bad thing, how so?

 

so, COBOL was on of the first (1950's) programming language. When I was in school 30 years ago it was archaic. Our government (social security, medicare, IRS?) computers for the most part are old and tired. Not many new programmers coming out of school to innovate in COBOL. So for health care all these new internet signup up technologies have to be tied into 40 year old systems. Not a pleasant business especially when the programmer pool is very limited.

 

Thank you!

 

Would I be wrong to say these..."glitches"....minor bumps in the road...are going to be around for awhile?

 

1950's! That makes them almost as old as I am.

I have a stupid question (Note: I said it was stupid) has anyone thought about getting newer software?

[Valin]

Yikes! I don't want to even think of all the government computers being opened up to the internet for O'care. Not than anyone would want to try and hurt USA computer infrastructure.

[Valin]

 

 

I read somewhere that some of the systems that have to be tied in our still in the COBOL computer language on systems never intended to share data directly with other computers.

Assume that I am completely ignorant when it comes to computers. I've see the word COBOL and know it is a programming languages, so the question is....What does this mean? I'm assuming this is a bad thing, how so?

 

so, COBOL was on of the first (1950's) programming language. When I was in school 30 years ago it was archaic. Our government (social security, medicare, IRS?) computers for the most part are old and tired. Not many new programmers coming out of school to innovate in COBOL. So for health care all these new internet signup up technologies have to be tied into 40 year old systems. Not a pleasant business especially when the programmer pool is very limited.

 

History of Successful Major Government Software Programs

Charlie Martin

10/1/13

 

A couple of the editors were interested in a bullet list of large-scale government software programs that have actually delivered on time.

 

(Snip)

 

IRS

IRS software upgrade to slow refunds to early filers

IRS System Upgrade Shows Progress

IRS Gives Away $318 Million Because Of Bungled Software Upgrade

 

FAA:

Whats keeping FAAs NextGen air traffic control on the runway?

FBI:

Sentinel Audit II: Status of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Case Management System (Redacte)

[SrWoodchuck]

McAfee Antivirus founder: “What idiot put this system out there?”

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/10/03/mcafee-antivirus-founder-what-idiot-put-this-system-out-there/

 

Whatever other — ahem — eccentricities antivirus software company founder and technology mogul John McAfee may have, I think we can at least safely conclude that the man knows his stuff when it comes to online security, and he is decidedly not impressed with the setup of the many separate yet intertwining systems flying under the banner of ObamaCare. Divorcing his criticisms from the underlying purpose of the law itself, McAfee ripped ObamaCare’s technological arrangement and worried that all of its huge moving parts will make it a perfect environment for hackers to steal Americans’ identities, personal information, and money.

Oh, it’s seriously bad. Somebody made a grave error, not in designing the program but in simply implementing the web aspect of it. For example, anybody can put up a web page and claim to be a broker for this system. There is no central place where I can go and say, OK, here are all the legitimate brokers, the examiners for all of the states, and pick and choose one. Instead, any hacker can put a website up, make it look extremely competitive, and because of the nature of the system — this is health care, after all — they can ask you the most intimate questions, and you’re freely going to answer them. What’s my Social Security number? My birth date? … Here’s the problem. It’s not something software can solve. I mean, what idiot put this system out there and did not create a central depository? There should be one website, run by the government, you go to that website and then you can click on all of the agencies. This is insane. So, I will predict that the loss of income for the millions of Americans who are going to lose their identities — I mean, you can imagine some retired lady in Utah, who’s $75,000 dollars in the bank, saving her whole life — having it wiped out one day because she signed up for ObamaCare. And believe me, this is going to happen millions of times. This is a hacker’s wet dream.

 

 

 

HotAir via TheoSpark

[clearvision]

I thought about this when I was googling the "site" the first day as I had no idea what it was called. Lots and lots of hits on official sounding "help" sites.

[clearvision]

HA!!! on second thought if you get a site that works .... you know you are not at the official site....

[SrWoodchuck]

$20,000 Per Year Is Not ‘Affordable’ Healthcare http://personalliberty.com/2013/02/04/20000-per-year-is-not-affordable-healthcare/

 

According to the Internal Revenue Service, the least expensive (in dollars) Obamacare health insurance plan in 2016 will be $20,000 per year for a family of five. The cost in health is immeasurable.

 

Buried within the dozens of pages of typical government argle bargle, parenthetical references and doublespeak are examples for Americans to use to determine their “penalty” for not being on an Obamacare-approved plan. Bronze coverage (the least expensive Obamacare plan behind silver, gold and platinum) for a family of two adults and three children is $20,000 per year.

 

Obamacare Fines to be Seized From Bank Accounts? http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/printthread.php?t=436520&pp=40&page=1

 

Man who attempted to sign up claims he was threatened with drivers license being revoked, federal tax lien on home

Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com October 2, 2013

 

A man who attempted to sign up for Obamacare online was told that a fine of over $4,000 dollars a year for refusing to take out mandatory health insurance could be taken directly from his bank account, and that his drivers license would be suspended and a federal tax lien placed against his home, according to an entry on the HealthCare.gov Facebook page.

 

If true, the implementation of Obamacare is going to be a whole lot more draconian than Americans have been led to believe.

 

Will Sheehan claims that when he tried to sign up for Obamacare and then register to opt out, he received an ominous warning. Sheehan’s full Facebook post reads;

Quote:

 

“I actually made it through this morning at 8:00 A.M. I have a preexisting condition (Type 1 Diabetes) and my income base was 45K-55K annually I chose tier 2 “Silver Plan” and my monthly premiums came out to $597.00 with $13,988 yearly deductible!!! There is NO POSSIBLE way that I can afford this so I “opt-out” and chose to continue along with no insurance.

I received an email tonight at 5:00 P.M. informing me that my fine would be $4,037 and could be attached to my yearly income tax return. Then you make it to the “REPERCUSSIONS PORTION” for “non-payment” of yearly fine. First, your drivers license will be suspended until paid, and if you go 24 consecutive months with “Non-Payment” and you happen to be a home owner, you will have a federal tax lien placed on your home. You can agree to give your bank information so that they can easy “Automatically withdraw” your “penalties” weekly, bi-weekly or monthly! This by no means is “Free” or even “Affordable.”

 

Sheehan went on to point out that the site makes you input all your personal information before giving you an indication of the costs, meaning a database of the “uninsured” is being built. He added that he could not afford to pay the premium so would have to break the law and pay the fine, leaving him with no health care coverage.

 

The federal government has consistently denied that any fines pertaining to Obamacare non-compliance could be seized from bank accounts, despite reports last year that the IRS had hired 16,500 new agents to harass citizens who attempt to evade the new law.

 

“There’s no criminal sanctions for not paying this, and there’s no ability to levy a bank account or do seizures,” then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman said in April 2010.