Obamacare...(new title): GOP DEATH PLAN: Don-Ryan's Express

[SkinsHokieFan]

Lots of talk in the office today about the rollout (seeing that where I work competes with CGI)

 

I don't think people realize how this thing was bid in the first place and the complications involved.

 

Of course, over the course of a few years, (a 2 year base) and an option that has been exercised, this is a disaster. Not to mention how much money the taxpayer has spent on this

 

This shows how dumb Cruz was. Politically this isn't nearly as damaging to the President as it would have been if this was the headlines on October 1st, coming off the terrible summer he had.

 

Instead the President can still say "I am not nearly as bad as those losers" 

Edited October 23, 2013 by SkinsHokieFan

[chipwhich]

I don't think people realize how this thing was bid in the first place and the complications involved.

 

If you have any facts on how it was bid rather than the rumint on the internet, I am all ears.

IMO, it doesn't really matter how it was bid as much as why it was awarded.  It doesn't matter if they were the sole bidder, lowest priced bidder, or best value bidder.

Someone awarded them the contract assuming they could implement the system based on the response to the RFP.

 

Someone made a mistake.

[SkinsHokieFan]

If you have any facts on how it was bid rather than the rumint on the internet, I am all ears.

IMO, it doesn't really matter how it was bid as much as why it was awarded.  It doesn't matter if they were the sole bidder, lowest priced bidder, or best value bidder.

Someone awarded them the contract assuming they could implement the system based on the response to the RFP.

 

Someone made a mistake.

 

Agree.

 

Also as for the actual RFP itself I spent a good chunk of the day trying to find it, but didn't. 

 

I am really curious if this thing was LPTA. 

[chipwhich]

This shows how dumb Cruz was. Politically this isn't nearly as damaging to the President as it would have been if this was the headlines on October 1st, coming off the terrible summer he had.

 

Instead the President can still say "I am not nearly as bad as those losers" 

 

Based on the CNN article I posted above, even Obama was unaware how bad the website was.  If you can believe that.

So you expected Cruz to know more?

 

It's all silly politics to me.

[Larry]

Which one?

"Show press conferences".

You know, the claim that the other side backed up.

Facts be damned.

Who needs facts when you can make posts which consist entirely of claiming somebody else said something which he hasn't?

CNN?

MSNBC?

Huntington Post adds a little positive spin LOL

I like this quote:

Trying to figure out exactly which fact you're trying to establish, here. That the rollout stank? I think everybody agrees with that one.

[Larry]

----------

 

IMO, it doesn't really matter how it was bid as much as why it was awarded.

Why was it awarded?

Well, here in my state, it was awarded because our Republican governors saw an opportunity to block implementation of a law that the other team was gonna get credit for, and decided to that what's good for his team was more important than screwing their own citizens, forcing the feds to try to do the job which those states decided to try to block. 

 

Since you decided to ask about the "why", and all. 

----------

I am really curious if this thing was LPTA.

"Let's Punt Till April"?

[twa]

Larry it helps when you are specific.,though it seems a odd request

 

 

look Ma, visual aides.....or like putting white coats on folk that ain't Drs

 

add

if ya prefer a professional opinion

 

And so the White House filled the Rose Garden with about 200 people (reporters joked that this was the total number of people nationwide who successfully navigated HealthCare.gov), including some in white coats. And so, with embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius nodding along from the front row of the audience, the commander-in-chief hawked health-care plans the way George Foreman sells grills and James Dyson sells vacuums.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-in-obamacare-speech-obama-makes-a-desperate-sales-pitch/2013/10/21/8d47edfa-3a91-11e3-a94f-b58017bfee6c_story.html

Edited October 23, 2013 by twa

[GoSkins0721]

Fixed that for you...

 

ACA welcomes you.

 

Yeah, only the guvment has these problems. Fixed that for you:

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/246647/10_biggest_erp_software_failures_of_2011.html

 

SAP project woes impact Ingram Micro's profits -- twice

In April, massive technology distributor Ingram Micro announced that problems with an SAP project in Australia had made a significant dent in its first-quarter profits.

Net income stood at $56.3 million, a drop from $70.3 million in the same quarter the previous year, Ingram Micro said at the time. The shortfall was "primarily attributable to difficulties transitioning to a new enterprise system in Australia," it said.

 

http://www.computerworld.com/computerworld/records/images/pdf/44NfailChart.pdf

 

Hershey Foods Corp.

PROJECT:

IBM-led installation and integration of SAP, Manugistics Group Inc.

and Siebel Systems Inc. software

WHAT HAPPENED?

To meet last year’s Halloween and Christmas candy rush, Hershey compressed the rollout of a new $112

million ERP system by several months. But inaccurate inventory data and other problems caused shipment delays and incomplete orders. Hershey sales fell 12% in the quarter after the system went live — down $150.5 million compared with the year before. Soft

ware and business-process fixes stretched into early this year.

[Larry]

Larry it helps when you are specific.,though it seems a odd request

So,

1) Fox News posts an interview, in which they have three people, all three of which are held up as examples of problems, and all three of which are making false claims.

2) Obama has a press conference, in which he has real people who claim to have been actually helped. (And which you do not dispute).

And you attack the second one, for being fake?

Have I got that right?

[Larry]

OT, anectodal story.  Just thought it was funny. 

 

MANY years ago, a boss of mine (we're both IT guys) was talking about how things don;t always work as planned. 

 

Seems that the DOD implemented this MASSIVE IT project, which was going to simplify and unify the military's logistics.  A huge undertaking.  Not really an outrageously complicated program.  But the amount of data was staggering. 

 

The mission:  Tell a computer which units you need, where, and the computer will tell you the best places from which to draw all of the things which said units will need. 

 

In order to fulfill this objective, the computer had to be told every kind of unit the military has, and what kind of supplies that unit will need, in every possible deployment location.  (The 82nd Airborne needs different supplies, in Egypt, than they'd need in Siberia.) 

 

It needed to know an inventory of every kind of transport which the military has, and the range, and capacity, of each transport.  (And, the supplies which the transport, itself, needs.) 

 

And it has to have a complete inventory of every kind of supply which the military has, and where those supplies are. 

 

In order to match supplies to transports, the program needs to know the supply's weight, and it's size.  (Because each transport is limited by both.  Although a C-5 might be able to lift 75 tons, it can't lift 75 tons of ping pong balls, because 75 tons of ping pong balls won't fit in the plane.) 

 

It was a massive undertaking, generating all of the data which the relatively simple program needs, to do it's job. 

 

But, they get it all done.  They manage to load all the data needed. 

 

They run a test.  "I need to send 200 infantry troops to Iraq." 

 

The computer informs them that it has the optimum solution, and it will take 73 C-5 flights. 

 

This answer is grossly, obviously, wrong.  ONE C-5 flight can deliver 200 troops, and a really staggering amount of gear, for them. 

 

So, they dig through the data. 

 

Eventually they discover the problem.  One of the items in the list of equipment is a field tent, four person.  (Think of the tent that Hawkeye and Trapper shared, on M*A*S*H.) 

 

Weight:  60 lbs.

Size:  20' by 20' by 8' 

 

[twa]

And you attack the second one, for being fake?

Have I got that right?

 

No, as usual you are going off somewhere of your own design and assign 'fake' and then feign outrage I don't object to something else

 

do you disagree the event was for show? .....still trying to figure out what your objection is

[Larry]

do you disagree the event was for show? .....still trying to figure out what your objection is

ALL press conferences are for show. (That's kind of their purpose.)

One of them, you object to. For being a press conference.

[Burgold]

I expect bugs and problems when trying to implement something this huge. But I also think that the impetus should be to fix and improve versus abolish and destroy.

After all, if your child on the first day of kindergarten can't master calculus you don't shoot him in the back of the head, right?

[twa]

ALL press conferences are for show. (That's kind of their purpose.)

One of them, you object to. For being a press conference.

 

So remind me why you wanted me to substantiate SHOW since you obviously consider it inherent? 

 

So you can object to me not objecting to a unrelated event?  .....seems pedantic and a reach 

 

add

 

Please explain why you think I was "objecting" to the press conference 

Edited October 23, 2013 by twa

[chipwhich]

 

Yeah, only the guvment has these problems. Fixed that for you:

 

 

Cute, but you missed the point.

EVERY Government program has that problem.

[Larry]

Cute, but you missed the point.

EVERY Government program has that problem.

Every BIG program has that problem.

[chipwhich]

 

----------

 

Why was it awarded?

Well, here in my state, it was awarded because our Republican governors saw an opportunity to block implementation of a law that the other team was gonna get credit for, and decided to that what's good for his team was more important than screwing their own citizens, forcing the feds to try to do the job which those states decided to try to block. 

 

Since you decided to ask about the "why", and all. 

 

 

Larry, I knew if you responded it would be 100% the GOP's fault.

 

Now as to why it was awarded to a Canadian company without competition, I don't know.

Every BIG program has that problem.

 

Every BIG program doesn't have enormous cost overruns. 

We should stand up an ACA clock, kind of like the federal deficit clock and watch it tick upwards.

[Larry]

Larry, I knew if you responded it would be 100% the GOP's fault.

Chip, I knew when you responded, you would make up something I didn't say, and claim I said it.

[@DCGoldPants]

funniest thing I heard this morning was something along the lines of Microsoft is pulling their Windows 8.1 update because of glitches. The company which has been doing this for a few decades is preparing for the storm of GOP criticism which will never come.

[Larry]

funniest thing I heard this morning was something along the lines of Microsoft is pulling their Windows 8.1 update because of glitches. The company which has been doing this for a few decades is preparing for the storm of GOP criticism which will never come.

I liked the Onion article that says Obama's rolling out a new update, on 35 floppys.

[SkinsHokieFan]

 

Health co-ops, created to foster competition and lower insurance costs, are in danger

When the new health-care law was being cobbled together, Congress decided to establish a network of nonprofit insurance companies aimed at bringing competition to the marketplace, long dominated by major insurers.

But these co-ops, started as a great hope for lowering insurance costs, are already in danger.

While the debut of the Affordable Care Act this month has been marred by widespread computer problems, the difficulties the co-ops face have been less obvious to consumers. One co-op, however, has closed, another is struggling, and at least nine more have been projected to have financial problems, according to internal government reviews and a federal audit.

Their failure would leave taxpayers potentially on the hook for nearly $1 billion in defaulted loans and rob the marketplace of the kind of competition they were supposed to create. And if they become insolvent, policyholders in at least half the states where the co-ops operate could be stuck with medical bills.

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/health-co-ops-created-to-foster-competition-and-lower-insurance-costs-are-facing-danger/2013/10/22/e1c961fe-3809-11e3-ae46-e4248e75c8ea_story.html?hpid=z1

[Larry]

Health co-ops, created to foster competition and lower insurance costs, are in danger

Not all that surprising.

I assume that insurance is a really big business, which takes a whole lot of money and backing, a ton of reserves, and the skill to manage them that RG3 wishes he had.

Probably makes running a restaurant look easy, and we all know how many of those go under, when people start them.

[pointyfootball]

I think everyone can understand the struggles to get an online system up and running, and the difficulties with that.  What irritates me, and I find impossible to believe, is Sebelius saying Obama was "blindsided" by this.  Considering ACA is most likely the crown jewel of his presidency, you would imagine he was getting weekly status reports (I know I would be for similar scale event on my job).  So he was therefore either ignoring the warnings and telling them to "October 1 no matter what", or Sebelius truly kept him in the dark and should be fired today, although I don't believe the latter.

[twa]

and the troubles mount

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57608843/healthcare.gov-feature-often-lists-wrong-prices-for-coverage/

 

 

(CBS News) CBS News has uncovered a serious pricing problem with HealthCare.gov. It stems from the Obama administration's efforts to improve its health care website. A new online feature can dramatically underestimate the cost of insurance.

 

The administration announced it would provide a new "shop and browse" feature Sunday, but it's not giving consumers the real picture. In some cases, people could end up paying double of what they see on the website, CBS News' Jan Crawford reported Wednesday on "CBS This Morning."

[Larry]

Heck, that happens half the time I buy stuff on Amazon.

----------

I do want to say:

Yes, it's normal for big, huge, IT projects to have some bugs when they roll out.

But yeah, I think it's perfectly legitimate to complain about this one. Like I've pointed out, I think they had five years to get ready for it, and I think it was delayed twice.

A few bugs is normal. But I think we all agree that this is a more than a few bugs.