Between the federal Healthcare.gov site and various state websites, more than 7.5 million Americans signed up for 2014 healthcare coverage on a health insurance exchange. Building those exchanges proved to be much, much easier said than done. Here's a quick look at who succeeded and who failed.
Four security experts told Congress today that if they'd been asked, the healthcare.gov Web site would not have launched given the known security shortcomings of the site.
The health insurance marketplaces mandated by the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act are scheduled to open for business in four days. Yet even before the sites launch, tech problems are emerging.
The health insurance exchanges set to launch on Oct. 1 may not be as robust as the typical Web-based consumer application. But they will improve over time, one expert familiar with the online insurance marketplaces says, and as they do they will begin to change the way many Americans buy health insurance.
Dual deadlines for implementing new health insurance exchanges and enrolling Americans now eligible for Medicaid is leaving IT departments at state health agencies scrambling to update legacy systems while integrating them with new applications. Not surprisingly, some are opting for phased rollouts.
Healthcare reform in the United States focuses mainly on providing coverage to the uninsured, and odds are good that your company offers health insurance to most employees. However, there are still reporting and security requirements you'll need to deal with -- and you'll have to be a vocal leader to make sure these tasks are a high priority.
In the early days of Healthcare.gov, I praised the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for publishing a dataset with sample rates for every health plan participating in the federal health insurance marketplace.
With the government closed for business, private-sector firms should consider poaching public-sector IT talent to fill open tech positions.