November 30, 2013

"Administration officials are preparing to announce Sunday that they have met their Saturday deadline for improving HealthCare.gov..."

"... according to government officials, in part by expanding the site’s capacity so that it can handle 50,000 users at once."
But they have yet to meet all their internal goals for repairing the federal health-care site, and it will not become clear how many consumers it can accommodate until more people try to use it.
50,000 users at once... was that the goal set for the deadline?

If you can set the goal at the point of seeing how far you've gotten when the deadline arrives, doesn't that make the whole notion of a deadline pretty much a scam?

63 comments:

Michael said...

The deadline is not the scam, the "goal" is the scam

Sorun said...

I've found that I meet more of my goals when I set them at the deadline.

Robt C said...

When I was managing projects, I referred to that sort of thing as shooting at a barn door then painting a bulls-eye around the bullet hole.

Robt C said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
avwh said...

5 years in, it would seem not very many people are still fooled by the (multiple & serial) scams of this WH occupant.

Too bad it took 5 years for so many more to see what some of us knew by just looking more deeply into his history and personal MO BEFORE his first national election.

Anonymous said...

POTUS Obama will succeed as he has support of every-one.

NYT - Editorial Board and the Op-Ed writers.
Wash Post - Ezra Klein is a Obama Hero worshipper.
NPR: Ari Shapiro loves Obama.
PBS: Gwen Ifill writes books on Obama.

In POTUS world, every negative can be made into positive.

Also, every-ones goal is: 2016.

If Obama falters, then Hillary! will be impacted.

We cannot allow that.

Thus, HealthCare.gov MUST SUCCEED.

Make every negative story better. How?

Chang the Goal Post.

Force the Public to accept new Goal Post, as Media defines it.

Ergo: 2nd term will lead to Hillary!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brad said...

Yes, it's a scam ... the whole thing is a scam.

Anonymous said...

Seriously, Prof. here is the big problem:

The HealthCare.gov site has gotten emergency doctors - that is, former campaign workers.

These workers are not long-term Federal employees.

They are fixing it to save the boss.

The public has a right to know who is doing what, how, why, etc.

Will the Obama WH release a report on who all have worked to make HealthCare.gov working since October 1 fiasco?

Will this list include their full names, current affiliation, etc?

If I were a GOP, this would be a message that every GOP pol should make.

Anonymous said...

Example: Who are the Saleforce people dispatched to help HealthCare.gov? How can they visit WH to work on the site without properly connection to contractors,etc?
This requires more media digging. Will NYT have another story? Will WashPost have another story?

HealthCare.gov mess is a Pulitzer prize winning issue?

Who will bring down the Obama admin with investigating report?

No one. No one wants a pulitzer.

Big Mike said...

@Professor, has there ever been anything about this administration that has not been a scam of some sort or another?

Left Bank of the Charles said...

It's a tragedy until Scott Walker decides all Wisconsin public employees should go onto Obamacare, then it will be a comedy.

gk1 said...

I suppose it surprises no one, not even their supporter's that the obama webteam was going to self report that the website is "fixed" no matter how badly the website is working. I wonder if there will be any media (other and WSJ or Fox) that will continue to report ongoing problems?

Wince said...

Reminds me of Season 2, Episode 16 of "Curb Your Enthusiasm".

The Acupuncturist (no clip available)

An acupuncturist agrees to waive his $5,000 fee if he can't make Larry better.

At a later visit, the acupuncturist asks Larry if he feels better. Larry says "Yes" and the acupuncturist demands $5,000.

"Better" is not "All Better", Larry tries to explain to his Asian acupuncturist.

Just because my neck "feels better" (improved), I'm not "better" (completely cured), Larry protests.

Bob Boyd said...

Obama killed Bin Laden AND evolved on gay marriage AND.....um....there was another thing, but it went out of my head.
Anyways, what I was gonna says is STOP nitpicking him already!
Sheesh!
If he said the truth all the time the Republicans would, like win! Don't you get that?

David said...

"If you can set the goal at the point of seeing how far you've gotten when the deadline arrives, doesn't that make the whole notion of a deadline pretty much a scam?"

Yes.

Next question.

jr565 said...

Wow, it can handle 50,000 people at once. That's completely underwhelming.

jr565 said...

Wow, it can handle 50,000 people at once. That's completely underwhelming.

rehajm said...

Starting today, the website is officially the best thing to discuss about Obamacare. Throw in a couple of positive anecdotes from the shills and 'Mission Accomplished!'

Sam L. said...

A scam on top of a scam on top of a scam...it's scams all the way down.

Unknown said...

As of today, 50,000 Americans can get their personal information stolen by identity thieves at the same time. Winning!

Unknown said...

Deadlines, redlines, meh, Obama DGAF.

Hagar said...

Obama's goalposts are always mounted on rollers.

Joe Schmoe said...

They're also "self-reporting" their own performance. There is zero oversight by an objective third party.

Since at this point they'll be lucky to get 50,000 simultaneous users, they can say whatever the hell they want.

It's Potemkin web sites all the way down.

Anonymous said...

As we've seen with other deadlines in this law, such as the employer mandate, the President just dispenses with them when they're inconvenient.

I don't think this deadline was any more serious than the others, they just needed a date and picked one that was far enough out that they had some hope of making, but not so far that it was obvious they'd fail to be ready for January health enrollments.

Now that they've failed, they're using a combination of "We meant to do that" and "Remain calm! All is well!"

The only goal these people have right now is making sure this thing doesn't become so rotten that Congress repeals it out from under them to save their own hides.

donald said...

OMG. Auburn?!

Michael K said...

Fixing the website will only expose the next step in the slow motion clusterf**k. The software for the connection to insurance companies hasn't been written yet. All this does is empower identity thieves. That will be the next scandal. Then the employer plans start to collapse.

Beorn said...

In related news, the administration has also just announced that it has ended World Hunger, achieved World Peace, and unilaterally ended Global Warming!

Original Mike said...

"Administration officials are preparing to announce Sunday that they have met their Saturday deadline for improving HealthCare.gov..."

Surprise!

chuckR said...

Wasn't it just last week that Henry Chaos, er, I mean, Chao, admitted that 40% of the site hasn't even been written? Michael K is right. Forward! To the next, even bigger, screw-up.

CWJ said...

Lord, two Althouse posts in the same day and not a single left wing defender. Not one. We know you're out there, Freder, somefeller, ARM, Inga of the 500 dollar deductable (btw, check your coverage, you bought an HMO), and so on.

Not saying I agree with everything said on these two posts, but if Ocare is such a good idea, then you must have something good to say. Right?

CWJ said...

I take it back. bbkingfish said John Boehner could work the site. Well! That's a relief.

Deirdre Mundy said...

I thought the "It's working for Boehner" comment meant "This is making sure that 2014 will advance the Republican agenda..."

CWJ said...

Deirdre M,

That's a good practical inference. But coming from bbkingfish I'm not so sure. I think I saw a post elsewhere stating the Boehner was able to use the website. Absent a clarification from bb, I would think that that was bbkingfish's intent.

Anonymous said...

I find Henry Chao to be a clueless person, like Beth Dozoretz during the Clinton Marc Rich pardon saga.

These people make be a political junkie.

I love scandals. Here is looking to more healthcare.gov scandals.

pm317 said...

Forbes has an op-ed suggesting Obama should be impeached. WaPO's Obama lapdogs are panicking calling for old, liberal supremes to retire.. this all can get only worse.

David said...

Having fun with impeachment fantasies etc?

Here's the rub. At least to surf for information, the Obamacare web site is now working smoothly. Two months of free help from his tech savvy campaign supporters has seen to that. They have also identified for him the parts that are going to be harder to fix, and Obama has pushed those to past the next election. Still to be tested is the signup process, but not the A team is on the case, and the major obvious fuckups are over. So much for the happy hunting ground of Obama bashing.

Of course the deeper flaws are still there, but they can be more successfully lied about. The biggest obvious flaw is lack of information about just what the various policies cover. A lot of people will choosing policies blind, and it will be a while until they figure out what the problems are.

Everyone has too easily assumed that the easy target on Obamacare will remain in the sights indefinitely. It may already have disappeared. If not it will soon.

Another example of focusing on the surface and ignoring the depths. If you want to critique Obamacare, you are going to have to go way beyond web site screw ups. They made for great sound bits, but the long term effect may turn out to be negligible.

avwh said...

You're whistling past the graveyard, David.

The sign ups are going to be adversely selected, skewing old & expensive, b/c only those needing insurance will wade through the crap website.

That means much higher premiums when rates are set for 2015 - just before the mid term elections next fall.

Higher deductibles, fewer docs & hospitals in the new plans - the hits keep coming, as many non-lefty websites have been writing about for weeks.

And up to half of those with company health insurance will be dropped before next fall's elections, too. Which will dwarf in magnitude the independent contractors who learned they were losing coverage this year end.

Only those still cheerleading for Obama have been focused exclusively on healthcare.gov. Although how they could screw up with 3+ years lead time and $650M in expense and have nothing that works IS a monumental failure of management - something only the Govt could do so well without anyone being held accountable.

pm317 said...

nobody has the nerve to take the impeachment route despite all the cry about all that he has done altering the law he signed. And I agree that website will probably fixed and then what.. and I wonder why Republicans can't talk about the flaws in the law. I was expecting that from Ted Cruz when he pulled that filibuster gig but that never happened.

Scott Anderson said...

Althouse, you're just going to vote straight Democrat again. It makes me wonder why all the facts and stuff in your political posts.

PB said...

How can they claim success when they just punted small business support and haven't even started work on the back end payments system? This seems to define failure.

What good is an application if you can't actually buy?

Martin Gale said...

Great leaders setting goals under duress is nothing new.
Compare and contrast:
1.) Joseph Goebbels raising the morale of the German people during the last days of the 3rd Reich,
“If history records that in the end the German people did not abandon their Fuehrer, that ALONE will be victory.”
2.) Barack Obama putting lipstick on a pig during the last days of the ACA rollout,
"If history records that in the end 80% (give or take) of the American people did not abandon Obamacare, that ALONE will be victory. Also, we promise we won't kill your dog. Much."

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely partially reassured.

edutcher said...

The most damning thing said about the ChoomCare website is that every porn site in the world works better.

David said...

Having fun with impeachment fantasies etc?

Here's the rub. At least to surf for information, the Obamacare web site is now working smoothly. Two months of free help from his tech savvy campaign supporters has seen to that. They have also identified for him the parts that are going to be harder to fix, and Obama has pushed those to past the next election. Still to be tested is the signup process, but not the A team is on the case, and the major obvious fuckups are over. So much for the happy hunting ground of Obama bashing.


Ah, lessee... 40% of the website has yet to be built - including the payment piece, apparently the thing has yet to be truly stress tested, as they're hoping they can handle 50,000 users at one time, security is a joke, data retention is a bigger joke, and the thing probably still isn't compliant with all of the Silver Haired Angel of Death's regs.

And that doesn't even begin to cover the fact a working website won't keep as many as 100,000,000 people from losing their insurance.

Who wants him impeached?

I just wish John Ehrlichman still was around so he could say how much fun it's going to be to watch the Demos "twist slowly in the wind" for the next 3 1/4 years.

Anonymous said...

NYT has a love fest:

No mention of who the former campaign workers are now working on HC.gov. Full details still needed.

No mention of why Valerie Jarrett is involved. Full details are needed.

To be continued. Not bloody likely.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/us/politics/inside-the-race-to-rescue-a-health-site-and-obama.html

wildswan said...

Yeah, the website's nice to cruise around in but it still isn't working when you stop cruising. People are trying to get insurance - that is the goalpost. They still can't get it -did, they can't pay for it because the pay function isn't there which means they aren't covered. So go ahead Dems. Trumpet out what a great success this site is. And then explain to those not covered and facing giant bills why their Dem Congressman said the site worked.

Simon Danger said...

Here is the part that I'm surprised about, Chao said last week that the mechanism for remitting payment (subsidies) to insurance companies hasn't even been built. Awfully good way to keep the insurance companies quiet about all the SNAFUs in the ACA....you know, like "shut up or none of you gets paid!".

Anonymous said...

The Clintons are coming. The Clintons are coming.

2016 is already here.

Forget HC.gov. It is time for 2016.

Who is Hillary! VP? Martin O'Malley from MD.

This is fact: Since all women and blacks will vote for her. See the NYT story. The drum-beat has started.

Today NYT. Tomorrow PBS. Then NPR.

GOP: So sorry. So very sorry. We hate you. We loathe you. Says the Press.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/us/politics/eye-on-2016-clintons-rebuild-bond-with-blacks.html?hp

Original Mike said...

"Administration officials are preparing to announce Sunday that they have met their Saturday deadline for improving HealthCare.gov..."

If President Obama says it, that's good enough for me!

Patrick said...

The website will eventually start working well.Unfortunately, that is when the real problems will start.

Henry said...

Quote: The 25 people working in the command center, who represent all the major contractors that helped build the site, can evaluate HealthCare.gov’s real-time performance through 15 screens capturing its overall response time, error rate, volume of traffic and visitor makeup and which functions users are performing at a given time. When they see a disparity in the readings, Bakshi said, “then the team springs into action” to try to fix it.

I've seen this project before. In three months, after most of these experts move on to something less likely to destroy their careers, some unfortunate technician will make a simple database upgrade and the whole site will come down as every manual kludge fails to map.

PB said...

The whole notion of this presidency is a scam.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Its not a scam unless there are consequences.

So, pipe-up, dutifully log on and sign up like you been told.

Anonymous said...

“If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”

Obama is a liar. Obamacare was passed based on his constant, repeated lies and the lies of his co-conspirator senators, congressliars, medialiars and punditsliars who knew they were lying to get the law passed with total partisanship.

Obamacare is beyond scam: it is fraud. The government should apologize to Bernie Madoff.

Michael K said...

"So much for the happy hunting ground of Obama bashing."

You ain't seen nothin' yet. Next summer when 100 million people have lost their health insurance; ask me then.

Fred Drinkwater said...

Remember Ford Prefect's description of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation?
"Customers were so happy to get any part of the product working that they never noticed how awful the whole thing was. In other words, the superficial design flaws completely obscured the fundamental design flaws."
That's exactly how I feel every time I look into PPACA or even Covered California (supposedly one of the better state exchanges).

Anonymous said...

Betamax3000 Wisdom Generator says:

Learn to Expect Incompetence, Learn to Accept Incompetence.

John said...

Rearranging the deck chairs on the TITANIC

Humperdink said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deirdre Mundy said...

"All women" won't vote for Hillary. She's actually a pretty divisive figure... and she's not LIKEABLE, which is how she lost out to Obama.

The Republicans are going to have to find a candidate so loveable that the MSM can't obscure that. Most people don't vote based on ideas. They vote based on 'I like this guy. I'd like to hang out with him. I trust him."

People trusted Bill b/c he's a good actor. No one ever trusted Hill....

Diogenes of Sinope said...

The media completely support Obama. So Obama can declare website success and the media will bust their asses and discard their integrity to support that claim. Actual results will have no bearing on media coverage.

Rusty said...

David said...

So. You're all on board with the "he didn't lie" meme.

Joe Kidd said...

This brings to mind Orwell's quote about controlling the past...

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

There are video games with more people online at one time. Many more. And they are using more data.

Incompetence.