Obamacare Blunders -- Political Decisions Led to this Disaster

As of the day of this writing, here's what we know about the blunders -- nearly all intentional -- that have led to the Obamacare fiasco:

• The Administration did not release critical regulations, as required by the law passed in March 2010, until after the November 2012 elections.  Why?  To ensure that political fall back did not impact the election outcome.
• The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, which is the federal agency responsible for the Obamacare web portal, decided that CMS itself, and not a software contractor, would assume the responsibility for software integration.  This is the same as if the Department of Defense (DOD) decided to be the integrating contractor for building the next generation fighter.  CMS made this decision for political reasons, out of fear that Obamacare details, or delays, would be released to the public.
• The Canadian software firm, CGI, will no doubt likely receive most of the blame for the failure of the web portal.  They were chosen without the benefit of a full and open competition using a current IDIQ contract in September 2011.  CGI is extremely well-connected at the Department of Health and Human Services.  
• The White House (and I mean the White House) was making decisions about the software function in the months prior to October 1st.  One of the key decisions they made was that curious citizens couldn't browse prices without registering.  This decision was made because they were trying to hide the sticker shock from casual browsing activity.   The fact that this was made in the months prior to the release is not a small detail.  Functional changes like this can have huge impacts on software performance.

That's four political decisions made during the runup to October 1st.  None of these were made with the interest of the citizen in mind.  All were made with the interest of the Government, particularly the Obama Administration, in mind.   That's 0-4, folks.

Obamacare and the Planned Tech Surge

President Obama and his Administration have proven that they shade their words carefully when it comes to discussing the truth about Obamacare.  Secretary Kathleen Sebelius couldn't answer how many enrollees had signed up, and Press Secretary Jay Carney can't provide a decent estimate as to when the problems will be fixed.

There will be hell to pay soon, as Sebelius testifies before the House of Representatives next week.  She will have facts, explanations, and excuses galore but none of that will ameliorate the fact that in the months and weeks before October 1st she was quoted, multiple times, saying that "all was ready."  And the media was still asleep at the switch, or punch drunk with admiration for the President, because there was not one inkling that problems were endemic until the utter failure of the web portal.

The only unrealistic people related to Obamacare are the Obama Administration and the Mainstream Media

But now it appears they are suffering from tremendous naivete as well.  With damaged credibility and tremendous doubt sown, even in the mainstream media, now would be the time to be 100% truthful.  It is also the time to NOT speak like a politician but with the sincerity of someone who promised Americans "the most transparent Administration in history."

But such is not happening, as revealed by the President's claim to have the "best and the brightest on the job," with blandishments to have all problems fixed shortly. 

As someone who has managed countless software programs in his lifetime, I can say categorically that small software problems can take as long to correct as the time to code the original software;  or, put another way, a 95% working complicated computer program that required a year to code can require another year to fix.

And piling on more tech experts does not hasten the task.  Nine women cannot produce a baby in one month, and tripling-down on the tech experts will not produce working software in 1/3 the time. 

While the Administration's critics say that the Obama Administration had three years to do this right, the honest critiques note that CGI, the software provider, had less than one year to write the code.

Rushing software code, without software system engineering, incremental software test, and 100% vetting prior to release brings to mind that old adage from fathers to sons:

"Marry in haste, repent in leisure."

Or, for those poor saps in the Obama Adminstration who are tearing their hair out:

"Code in haste, suffer the outrage in leisure."

I leave this post with one of the funniest Dilbert cartoons ever about motivating software engineers, not known as the most obedient of employees: