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Tools for processing payments to insurers haven't been built.
Problems with the performance of the site's databases, storage and servers and their interaction with each other continue to slow the site or make it unavailable for short periods, according to government officials and contractors working on the project.
The government had bought web-hosting services from Terremark subsidiary that initially gave it a highly virtualized system of servers shared by other groups within the Medicare center, rather than a dedicated group of computer servers for HealthCare.gov. Plans are in place to replace the Verizon unit with H-P this spring. The switch will be a complex transition that could introduce new challenges and take months.
HHS also didn't contract for a backup website.
The site has a backlog of users who encountered problems in its first weeks of operation. Some appear to be locked out from the early stages unless they can get their account deleted. Others are stuck at the next big stage, persuading the federal government of their identity and their income so their application for tax credits can be processed.
This story keeps getting better and better.
ReplyDeleteCue tape of GOP indignation and demands for a new round of Congressional hearings.
What a great picture! She looks like a DMV clerk.
ReplyDeleteCMS took the site down for 11 hours last night for maintenance, and has to shut it down for another 4 hours early tomorrow morning. Can you imagine a commercial entity being out of service so long?
And like DMV, CMS brings a weekday 9-5 mentality to their project. Reuters reports "Navigator groups - those tasked with helping people sign up for new medical benefits - had not planned for a busy weekend following the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Several groups contacted by Reuters said they would not be open, while others described a trickle of would-be applicants on Saturday."
And they sure set the bar high for themselves. Their metric for success is that as of today, you can use the site to create an account and enroll.
This whole episode has been--and certainly will continue to be--a first rate primer on bureaucracy.