Health Exchange Website Failures Were Both Predicted And Predictable

Katherine McIntire Peters | Nextgov | October 10, 2013

Who knew it could be so difficult to build an effective, user-friendly website capable of efficiently serving up complex information for millions of users? Quite a few people, actually. And that’s why the Obama administration’s bungling of the most public aspect of its signature policy initiative is so baffling. As White House officials never tire of telling us, this is the coolest, most tech-savvy administration ever. Well, maybe not. Governing is a lot harder than campaigning, and that’s especially true when it comes to implementing technology.  

There’s been a lot of venting from frustrated users and some good analysis about what possibly went wrong. It’s becoming clear that many supporters of the Affordable Care Act, not just opponents, voiced concerns about the website well before the Oct. 1 rollout. What’s not clear is why officials didn’t take those concerns seriously enough to either make significant changes or seek to delay the rollout.