Building a website in 2013 should be as easy as U-R-L, so what’s the deal with HealthCare.gov?
The White House billed the Obamacare portal as the Kayak.com of health coverage — only instead of plane rides, it was selling health insurance. It was supposed to be a one-stop click and shop place to compare and buy health plans in the 36 states not running their own insurance exchanges — and for the millions who are eligible, get federal subsidies.
Hundreds of millions of dollars later, it’s fundamentally broken and a frantic fix is underway.
What made it so complicated?
The Obama administration has done little to give outsiders a peek under the hood — although it promises daily briefings from the Department of Health and Human Services starting Thursday.
But it’s way more complicated than tweaking a simple commercial site.
“This is one of the most complex IT projects the federal government has ever undertaken,” said Dan Schuyler, senior technology expert at Leavitt Partners.
With the contractors who built the system preparing for a grilling from House Republicans today, here’s a quick guide to all the things that have to go right for HealthCare.gov to start humming.