3 ms·

Promised Fix for Health Site Could Squeeze Some Users

21 points by mcenedella 13y ago

jcromartie 13y ago
> Quality Software Services Inc., a unit of the UnitedHealth Group Wow. Isn't that a bit of a conflict of interest? The exchanges are supposed to be a neutral ground between individuals and insurers. How in the world was this company selected to be the crack team to lead the effort? They appear to be a completely bog-standard .NET/Java gov't contractor, throwing the word "cloud" around a lot. The only obvious thing that makes them stand out is their connection to UnitedHealth Group. I also wonder if any of this work will be farmed out to offshore offices: http://www.qssinc.com/newsHyd.html http://www.qssinc.com/newsHyd.html Ah, it looks like their initial involvement was already questioned a year ago: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/contractor-chosen-to-fix-healthcaregov-faced-questions-from-lawmakers-last-year/2013/10/25/fe27e8ee-3da3-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/contractor-ch...
LeicaLatte 13y ago
Looking at this quality of American contractor work, I believe it would have worked better if they had outsourced it to say, even India.
influx 13y ago
Health care in the United States is screwed up. I fail to see how more government intervention like this is going to fix it. The same guys who run your DMV and tap your phone lines are now going to provide your medical care? No thanks.
- bunderbunder 13y ago
  Well, the only credible free market alternative is to re-instate the forces necessary for free markets to naturally regulate themselves by banning things like employer-sponsored health benefits. Which I'm guessing has a snowball's chance in hell of making it through Congress. (It certainly would still result in lots of people shouting "Government! Aaaa!" and flailing their arms. But I'm beginning to think you can't even walk down to the corner store to buy a bag of chips without someone doing that nowadays.) As to how it might fix things, well, I'm not sure what we got is likely to work out better than that option would have. Nor is it likely that it would work better than the option with the most proven track record, which is a single-payer system. But that, too, is politically unlikely. And will probably continue to be so as long as we remain a people who'll readily burn an extra $10 in gas in order to get across a state line so we can save $3 in sales tax. So yeah, what we got isn't great. . . but it's what we could get. And it's at least worth a shot. Considering the system we've been operating under is inarguably the worst one in the developed world, it certainly seems better than doing nothing.

21 points by mcenedella 13y ago

> Quality Software Services Inc., a unit of the UnitedHealth Group Wow. Isn't that a bit of a conflict of interest? The exchanges are supposed to be a neutral ground between individuals and insurers. How in the world was this company selected to be the crack team to lead the effort? They appear to be a completely bog-standard .NET/Java gov't contractor, throwing the word "cloud" around a lot. The only obvious thing that makes them stand out is their connection to UnitedHealth Group. I also wonder if any of this work will be farmed out to offshore offices: http://www.qssinc.com/newsHyd.html http://www.qssinc.com/newsHyd.html Ah, it looks like their initial involvement was already questioned a year ago: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/contractor-chosen-to-fix-healthcaregov-faced-questions-from-lawmakers-last-year/2013/10/25/fe27e8ee-3da3-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/contractor-ch...

LeicaLatte 13y ago

Looking at this quality of American contractor work, I believe it would have worked better if they had outsourced it to say, even India.

influx 13y ago

Health care in the United States is screwed up. I fail to see how more government intervention like this is going to fix it. The same guys who run your DMV and tap your phone lines are now going to provide your medical care? No thanks.

bunderbunder 13y ago
Well, the only credible free market alternative is to re-instate the forces necessary for free markets to naturally regulate themselves by banning things like employer-sponsored health benefits. Which I'm guessing has a snowball's chance in hell of making it through Congress. (It certainly would still result in lots of people shouting "Government! Aaaa!" and flailing their arms. But I'm beginning to think you can't even walk down to the corner store to buy a bag of chips without someone doing that nowadays.) As to how it might fix things, well, I'm not sure what we got is likely to work out better than that option would have. Nor is it likely that it would work better than the option with the most proven track record, which is a single-payer system. But that, too, is politically unlikely. And will probably continue to be so as long as we remain a people who'll readily burn an extra $10 in gas in order to get across a state line so we can save $3 in sales tax. So yeah, what we got isn't great. . . but it's what we could get. And it's at least worth a shot. Considering the system we've been operating under is inarguably the worst one in the developed world, it certainly seems better than doing nothing.