4 ms·

>According to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversaw the implementation of the website, the components used to build the site are compliant

>According to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversaw the implementation of the website, the components used to build the site are compliant with standards set by Federal security authorities. This sounds similar to saying the steel plating on the Titanic was compliant with industry standards. All because you have sound components doesn't mean they will result in a sound product. Unfortunately, I don't expect many people outside this industry will realize how hollow this statement is.

elwell 13y ago
You'd think by now someone would have done a weekend project open-source version of this site. I wonder if the specs are available (I have no idea how involved the site actually is, but surely it's not 500M LOC worth.).
- MichaelGG 13y ago
  Weekend project of integrating with ancient healthcare mainframes? OK.
  - spamizbad 13y ago
    I laughed. No first-hand experience, but a buddy of mine has to work on fancy web code that just has to deal with just 1 ancient COBOL backend from an insurance company - he spent over half of his project's time dealing with it. And he was lucky: The original COBOL Programmer was still on the payroll and available for questions!
    - djur 13y ago
      I've worked on two roughly similar but much smaller projects, one of them with an AS/400 admin who had to be sent documentation on what JSON is (he was "familiar with" XML but hadn't used it before), and another working through a middleman company which had built a reasonably sane API to query a small subset of the offerings of several insurance companies across a particular set of states. Both projects were a huge pain in the ass, and neither of them even required testing for eligibility. When I think of healthcare.gov, I think of that same pain in the ass multiplied by the large number of states and additional insurance companies involved... as well as testing for eligibility, doing income validation, calculating subsidies... probably some state-by-state regulatory requirements... just the sheer number of external organizations and systems involved boggles the mind. Frankly, I'm shocked it works even to the extent it does. Incidentally, the complexity involved in building a site like this for so much of the country is why the ACA was set up for every state to implement their own exchange. Unfortunately, a lot of states didn't pull their weight and now it's the feds' mess to clean up.
  - AmVess 13y ago
    I'll do it in MS Frontpage for the cost of a sixer of beer and a box of twinkies. Toss in a bag of M&M's and I'll do up some animated gifs, too.
- patio11 13y ago
  I think you may have misunderestimated the scope of this "site." To be fair, you'd be in pretty good company with many people in the Administration. The following would not be easy to complete during your weekend: 1) HIPAA compliance 2) Verifying income against IRS records to determine eligibility for subsidies. 3) Automatically forwarding gathered information to insurers, in a patchwork quilt of formats, many of which are under-specified I believe one could get to at least two dozen requirements which are similar in complexity to the above three without breaking a sweat.
  - jonknee 13y ago
    Also verifying citizenship with DHS, verifying no benefits are currently being received by Medicare, Medicaid or through Veterans Affairs. I'm sure a lot more. It's a nightmare combination of legacy DB integration where if you make one mistake that ends up in an illegal immigrant getting healthcare your ass will be hauled into Congress to testify.
  - elwell 13y ago
    Yeah... I was somewhat expecting to be told about frustrating complexities only a government can grow. Alas, it is not a project I wish to be anywhere near. Would it be easier to change legislation rather than deal with a mutating creature of obfuscation? (that's rhetorical)

elwell 13y ago

You'd think by now someone would have done a weekend project open-source version of this site. I wonder if the specs are available (I have no idea how involved the site actually is, but surely it's not 500M LOC worth.).

MichaelGG 13y ago
Weekend project of integrating with ancient healthcare mainframes? OK.
- spamizbad 13y ago
  I laughed. No first-hand experience, but a buddy of mine has to work on fancy web code that just has to deal with just 1 ancient COBOL backend from an insurance company - he spent over half of his project's time dealing with it. And he was lucky: The original COBOL Programmer was still on the payroll and available for questions!
  - djur 13y ago
    I've worked on two roughly similar but much smaller projects, one of them with an AS/400 admin who had to be sent documentation on what JSON is (he was "familiar with" XML but hadn't used it before), and another working through a middleman company which had built a reasonably sane API to query a small subset of the offerings of several insurance companies across a particular set of states. Both projects were a huge pain in the ass, and neither of them even required testing for eligibility. When I think of healthcare.gov, I think of that same pain in the ass multiplied by the large number of states and additional insurance companies involved... as well as testing for eligibility, doing income validation, calculating subsidies... probably some state-by-state regulatory requirements... just the sheer number of external organizations and systems involved boggles the mind. Frankly, I'm shocked it works even to the extent it does. Incidentally, the complexity involved in building a site like this for so much of the country is why the ACA was set up for every state to implement their own exchange. Unfortunately, a lot of states didn't pull their weight and now it's the feds' mess to clean up.
- AmVess 13y ago
  I'll do it in MS Frontpage for the cost of a sixer of beer and a box of twinkies. Toss in a bag of M&M's and I'll do up some animated gifs, too.
patio11 13y ago
I think you may have misunderestimated the scope of this "site." To be fair, you'd be in pretty good company with many people in the Administration. The following would not be easy to complete during your weekend: 1) HIPAA compliance 2) Verifying income against IRS records to determine eligibility for subsidies. 3) Automatically forwarding gathered information to insurers, in a patchwork quilt of formats, many of which are under-specified I believe one could get to at least two dozen requirements which are similar in complexity to the above three without breaking a sweat.
- jonknee 13y ago
  Also verifying citizenship with DHS, verifying no benefits are currently being received by Medicare, Medicaid or through Veterans Affairs. I'm sure a lot more. It's a nightmare combination of legacy DB integration where if you make one mistake that ends up in an illegal immigrant getting healthcare your ass will be hauled into Congress to testify.
- elwell 13y ago
  Yeah... I was somewhat expecting to be told about frustrating complexities only a government can grow. Alas, it is not a project I wish to be anywhere near. Would it be easier to change legislation rather than deal with a mutating creature of obfuscation? (that's rhetorical)