Healthcare.gov Not Immune (or Insured) Against IT Issues
Obamacare has had its share of opponents from day one, but lately it seems like it's its own worst enemy. Since its launch, Healthcare.gov has been plagued by technical glitches. What first was deemed "traffic overload," with 8.6 million people visiting the site in the first 3 days, is now being characterized as a bit more serious, reports Motherboard.
Healthcare.gov Problems
Where do we begin? The Healthcare.gov website is the stuff of dreams for tech geeks that live for criticizing just about everything in online fora. IT experts "believed flaws in the system's architecture, not traffic alone, contributed to the problems of the first week," reports Reuters. We're talking spelling mistakes and the inclusion of "Lorem Ipsum Dolor" -- which for those of you who never built a website -- is standard place holder text, according to Motherboard. Even simple things like hyperlinks are broken, according to Bloomberg.
Healtchare.gov Fixes
To fix the giant problems glitches, the Obama Administration has put together a dream team of "the best and brightest from both inside and outside the government" to create a "tech surge" to fix the website, reports The New York Times. This change in course follows President Obama's decision to have Jeffrey Zients and Chief U.S. Technology Officer Todd Park get involved with fixing the site, according to The Times.
Moving Forward
Unfortunately, we still don't know for sure how long the fixes can take, with some tech experts opining it could take days or weeks to fix, reports Bloomberg. The government has a few options: it could continue as planned, or extend upcoming enrollment deadlines. If anything, this should be a lesson on the importance of insurance -- you never know who, or when, one will get sick.
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Related Resources:
- What Tech WAS in Your Briefcase? What's in it Now? (FindLaw's Technologist Blog)
- The Importance of a Good Web Server (FindLaw's Technologist Blog)
- Big Brother is Watching: Lessons from Black Hat and Def Con (FindLaw's Technologist Blog)