Alas, the administration managed to turn the experience for most of those visitors into a nightmare. Websites crashed, refused to load, or offered bizarre and incomprehensible choices. Even though the system was shut down for repairs over the weekend, Monday’s early reports continued to suggest an epic screw-up.
Why have things gone so wrong?
President Obama’s chief technology adviser, Todd Park, blames the unexpectedly large numbers of people who flocked to Healthcare.gov and state websites. “Take away the volume and it works,” he told USA TODAY’s Tim Mullaney.
That’s like saying that except for the torrential rain, it’s a really nice day. Was Park not listening to the administration’s daily weather report predicting Obamacare’s popularity?
Park said the administration expected 50,000 to 60,000 simultaneous users. It got 250,000. Compare that with the similarly rocky debut seven years ago of exchanges to obtain Medicare drug coverage. The Bush administration projected 20,000 simultaneous users and built capacity for 150,000.
That’s the difference between competence and incompetence.
More at USA Today
H/T Jim Geraghty
1. You can’t say anything derogatory about Ø. He has the largest phalanx of strident defenders the world has ever seen. They will come for you, Dr. John. You will be audited, your phone will be tapped, your mail will be read, and your property confiscated. Then you will be sent to Guantanamo for re-education.
2. ObamaDoesn’tCare is too big to fail. It is run by the same outfit that loses money running trains, loses money delivering the mail, and (in fact) has no proven record of successfully managing anything!
3. If you like the VA Hospital system, you will love the Unaffordable Don’tCare Act.
4. Don’t worry about it. There was no Constitutional authority for the Act (it is not in the enumerated powers). There is no authority for the President to unilaterally alter enacted laws. There is no authority for the Supreme Court to alter enacted laws. We don’t have a Constitution anymore. We have a Dictator, and you better be nice to him. Or else.