What’s the price? … and more tales from the ObamaCare web site.

The ObamaCare website and its underlying inter-connected legacy systems are going to be legendary for apparent IT ineptness.

A case study in how not to develop and launch new systems

Why isn’t the system able to do the basics?

You know: log people in, tell them the price, sign them up and, oh yeah, keep people’s private information secure.

Some of the problems are structural … what happens when you try to inter-connect old legacy systems … each with a humongous, uniquely-designed database.

Other problems are self-inflicted … either amateurish design or intentional strategic specifications built into the design.

As a recovering systems designer and CIO — and, oh yeah, a pricing prof — here’s my take ..

For openers, there are front-end security issues.

Security guru John McAfee has been making the TV talk show rounds sounding an alarm that the Java-based website is a hacker’s playground.

Easy to penetrate, hijack and siphon data.

You know, information like name, address, birth date, social security number.

Everything required to jack somebody’s identity and steal all their money.

Oops.

Gotta believe a guy that has spent his life developing security software … and, most recently, ducking foreign police who want to chat with him about a neighbor’s murder.

Oops.

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Then there’s the front-end “design issue” reported by Forbes this week.

Lots of folks have observed that the system bogs down because website visitors have to register to access the site.

Not just, say email address, — ALL personal data … that’s not only annoying, it’s computer-intensive and very time consuming.

Do, the math.

If it takes, say, 10 minutes to register, each 1 million site visitors use up over 150,000 hours of on-line time … just to do the front-end registration.

That’s what math whizes call “statistically significant”.

And, it’s my hunch that it takes the typical exchange visitor longer than 10 minutes to complete the task … or reach the point that they give up

Steve Jobs reported obsessed over the number of seconds that it took for a Mac to boot up.

Government system designers don’t seem to have that same obsession.

Wonder why?

I initially hypothesized that they were stupid or rushed.

Now, there’s a chorus of experts saying “No, it’s intentional. A matter of strategic design”.

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Forbes highlights the pricing design issue.

Despite Obama’s chatter re: affordability to the contrary, health industry experts are saying that the list price of ObamaCare Exchange policies are pretty steep … high enough to make site visitors swoon and faint.

Why?

Because ObamaCare policies are loaded with coverages that most people won’t use and don’t want to pay for.

Take my favorite example: sex-change operations.

I don’t care if some guy decides to have his unit whacked off. That’s a personal decision, None of my business,

But I ask …

How many of you are planning to change teams in the next couple of years?

How many of your family members?

My bet: not many hands are in the air.

But, everybody has to chip in to fund this universal benefit.

It’s like a new car loaded with options that you have to pay for but will never use.

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Then, there’s the “was-is” pricing strategy ….

Many (most?) people buying insurance through the exchanges get income-based subsidies— think, sale prices at Kohl’s based on ability to pay.

So, rather than flashing coronary-inducing list price at people … the ObamaCare people prefer to first calculate a person’s promotional allowance (i.e. subsidy) … and wow them with the sale price (i.e. list price less subsidy).

But, calculating each individual’s subsidy means fetching data from other legacy government systems – think, IRS data base.

That takes a lot of computer power and a lot of time online.

Bottom line: Rather than showing people a sky-high list price that’s simply calculated based on folk’s folks’ enter state, age and desired plan … the Feds choose to obscure the list price and only show the often less scary net-price.

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Now, here’s one aspect that I haven’t seen reported.

I hate it when I have to register on a site to see a full article (or an item’s price).

I know that I’m going to get barraged with junk emails … and that the unsubscribe function probably won’t work.

Same deal with the ObamaCare website.

Once the registration is complete, they’ve got you in their data base.

Uh-oh

You’re either a curious reporter or somebody who doesn’t have health insurance via your employer.

Think about that for a second.

Suppose that you’re a young, healthy self-employed person … earning more than $75,000 … who doesn’t get a subsidized rate and chooses to self-insure (i.e. to roll the dice and pay as you go for healthcare).

Well now, self-insurance isn’t an option.

You have to buy ObamaCare – to subsidize old, unhealthy folks – or you get hit with an escalating fine.

Thought you could just hide in the weeds to duck the fine?

Well, think again.

Once you register on the ObamaCare website, you’re toast.

Buy it or get fined !

“They” know – with great certainty — that you should be buying ObamaCare insurance, but haven’t done so.

Uh-oh.

Knock, knock … it’s the IRS.

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This is gonna be interesting.

I wish the GOP would get off the case and just let ObamaCare run.

My bet: it’ll cave under it’s own weight.

The Homa Files