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Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 01:43 PM Oct 2013

Obamacare Websites Limited by Verizon Data Hub Failure

By Alex Wayne - Oct 28, 2013

Rollout of the U.S. health-care overhaul is facing mounting delays as a key computer service that failed yesterday remained dormant, three days after the Obama administration said its insurance exchange website would be working smoothly in about a month.

The data services hub that supplies tax information to websites run by the federal government and 14 states to sell medical coverage, was unavailable following a malfunction at the hosting center. The center, operated by Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) unit Terremark, lost connectivity after workers tried to replace a broken networking component, said Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

The Obama administration has been under fire since Oct. 1 for persistent problems with computer systems assembled to help people compare and enroll in insurance plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Just three days ago, Jeffrey Zients, the adviser brought in to help fix the flaws, said “the data hub, we believe, functions relatively smoothly.”

“Our engineers have been working with HHS and other technology companies to identify and address the root cause of the issue,” Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for New York-based Verizon, said in a phone interview. “It will be fixed as quickly as possible.”

Nelson declined to say when the breakdown occurred. Peters of HHS also didn’t say when the failure happened or how long it would take to repair. Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. health secretary, spoke with Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam yesterday, her agency said in a statement.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-28/obamacare-websites-limited-by-verizon-data-hib-failure.html

What an embarrassment and clusterfuck this ACA rollout has been so far. I hope the admin is buying lipstick by the truckload because that is what it is going to take to make this 'pig' look pretty.

20 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Obamacare Websites Limited by Verizon Data Hub Failure (Original Post) Purveyor Oct 2013 OP
Wait, you're bashing the admin for a Verizon hardware failure? geek tragedy Oct 2013 #1
Why don't we ponder why federal tax data is being supplied to the federal government.. Jesus Malverde Oct 2013 #3
So, the federal government should have spent hundreds of billions to develop a parallel geek tragedy Oct 2013 #5
It isn't. jeff47 Oct 2013 #6
If the hub in one data center fails, then the clients should fail-over to hub in an alternate center FarCenter Oct 2013 #20
I'm maintaining it is a clusterfuck and you are free to deflect the blame to any entity you choose Purveyor Oct 2013 #7
Keep on hyping how awful it is. Encourage all your friends and family to see how bad it is geek tragedy Oct 2013 #10
Well you just stick with your mission and I really do wish you good luck at the end of the day. Purveyor Oct 2013 #12
Making the ACA succeed should be the goal of everyone on the left. geek tragedy Oct 2013 #13
I'm going to remember you, specifically Pretzel_Warrior Oct 2013 #18
I really do hope that works out for you...really I do. eom Purveyor Oct 2013 #19
Ditto nt B2G Oct 2013 #16
Verizon seems to have things working pretty smoothly or the NSA notadmblnd Oct 2013 #2
This is the problem with trying to create anything that big Jackpine Radical Oct 2013 #4
"Single-payer" dipsydoodle Oct 2013 #11
Iprobably should defer that one to those who know more than I about the various models Jackpine Radical Oct 2013 #14
You people amaze me. It could be solar flares Pretzel_Warrior Oct 2013 #8
Yep.... who needs GOPers trying to make Democrats look bad groundloop Oct 2013 #17
Ah yes ...privatisation at its best? I guess the gov gave up on owning core internet elements... L0oniX Oct 2013 #9
No, the blame is going to the gov't for hiring this company Jackpine Radical Oct 2013 #15
 

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)
1. Wait, you're bashing the admin for a Verizon hardware failure?
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 01:45 PM
Oct 2013

Or are you maintaining that the ACA software should just exist in a fourth dimension where it can't be affected by physical failures of servers?

Jesus Malverde

(10,274 posts)
3. Why don't we ponder why federal tax data is being supplied to the federal government..
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 01:56 PM
Oct 2013

by a private corporation?

The outsourcing of government and it's services is the REAL outrage of the ACA rollout.

 

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)
5. So, the federal government should have spent hundreds of billions to develop a parallel
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 01:58 PM
Oct 2013

communications grid to access the Internet--just for the ACA?

 

FarCenter

(19,429 posts)
20. If the hub in one data center fails, then the clients should fail-over to hub in an alternate center
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:56 PM
Oct 2013

If it goes down and stays down for hours, this indicates that their disaster recovery / business continuity plan is inadequate.

A major credit card network, for example, has east coast, west coast, European, and Asian processing hubs that can process for each other in case of emergency.

Your disaster recovery plan must consider the possibility that any single data center or any pair within 200 miles can become permanently inoperable due to, for example, terrorist attack.

Sorry, intended to reply to geektragedy.

 

Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
7. I'm maintaining it is a clusterfuck and you are free to deflect the blame to any entity you choose
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:03 PM
Oct 2013

but the administration owns this lock, stock and barrel.

Good thing I've a self-imposed a moratorium on posting negative ACA articles because I could fill the fucking sidebar and these would just be from Democratic sources.

 

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)
10. Keep on hyping how awful it is. Encourage all your friends and family to see how bad it is
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:08 PM
Oct 2013

themselves.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57609593/poll-bad-press-is-increasing-interest-in-obamacare/

MoneyWatch) The sea of bad press for the federal government's Obamacare website may be doing more good than harm for the Affordable Care Act, according to a new poll.

A survey released Monday by Bankrate.com shows awareness and interest in the plan is growing among key demographics. The poll found 51 percent of all those surveyed -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- say the House Republican attacks and troubled launch of the Obamacare website have made them more interested in the new medical insurance plan. Only 4 percent say they're less interested.

The poll was conducted between Oct. 17 and 20, immediately after the government shutdown and while media attention was shifting to the many technical problems with the Healthcare.gov website.

Interest in the plan is especially high among younger people who are needed to make the plan's economics work. Nearly 60 percent of so-called "young invincibles" age 18 to 29 said they wanted to know more about the ACA. Because people this age use less healthcare than other groups, their insurance payments help subsidize the healthcare costs of others.

All the media attention also seems to have made up for what has been considered a lackluster effort by the government to make people aware of the ACA. Around 64 percent of the uninsured said they were now curious about it, the highest rate of any group in the survey


 

Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
12. Well you just stick with your mission and I really do wish you good luck at the end of the day.
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:19 PM
Oct 2013

You are going to need it, indeed.

 

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)
13. Making the ACA succeed should be the goal of everyone on the left.
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:20 PM
Oct 2013

Indeed, I question the morality of anyone who's rooting for it to fail, whether they be on the Ted Cruz right or the Ted Rall left.


Fortunately, the assclowns rooting against the ACA are our useful idiots.

 

Pretzel_Warrior

(8,361 posts)
18. I'm going to remember you, specifically
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:42 PM
Oct 2013

In a year as we review how things are going. And as I call you out I will laugh and laugh. Then I will ask for your stock tips so I can do the opposite and make bank.

notadmblnd

(23,720 posts)
2. Verizon seems to have things working pretty smoothly or the NSA
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 01:51 PM
Oct 2013

Maybe they should use the hub the NSA uses and let the NSA be down for a while?

Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)
4. This is the problem with trying to create anything that big
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 01:58 PM
Oct 2013

under intense hostile scrutiny.

Fuckups are abslutely bound to happen.

However, in 3 months this will be a bad memory, and in 9 months, not even that as people sign up & realize that they're getting something better than they had before.

The Republicans know this, and know they lose big if they don't kill ACA in the crib.


And yes, I'm a critic of Obamacare. I would much prefer single-payer and the elimination of the insurance companies, but I also recognize that it is somewhat better than what we had before. More people are insured, pre-existing condition exclusions are gone, etc.

dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)
11. "Single-payer"
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:15 PM
Oct 2013

where did that expression come from ? It continues to defeat me despite various description on the web. Did it exist as an expression prior to your own issues over there or was the expression simply invented to suit the purpose ?

Why wasn't it just called "universal health care" same as elsewhere ? I know that here in the UK we just refer to it as NHS but that's historic going back 65 years.

Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)
14. Iprobably should defer that one to those who know more than I about the various models
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:25 PM
Oct 2013

of universal health care, but in general I think that "single-payer" is a generic term that could include a national health service in which all the providers are government employees, or a system in which the providers remain private but submit their bills to some central paying structure.

 

Pretzel_Warrior

(8,361 posts)
8. You people amaze me. It could be solar flares
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:03 PM
Oct 2013

Disrupting communications and people would be on here saying: "what a clusterfuck Obamacare is! How could they NOT plan for solar disruptions!1!!1"

groundloop

(11,486 posts)
17. Yep.... who needs GOPers trying to make Democrats look bad
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:36 PM
Oct 2013

We've got threads like this doing it for us.

 

L0oniX

(31,493 posts)
9. Ah yes ...privatisation at its best? I guess the gov gave up on owning core internet elements...
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:05 PM
Oct 2013

or never did ...except for the NSA and military? So the trend is to have corporations run government operations ...how's that working out for ya USA? Well at least this way the blame can go to them and not the gov?

Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)
15. No, the blame is going to the gov't for hiring this company
Mon Oct 28, 2013, 02:27 PM
Oct 2013

instead of some other company. The right-wing sites are claiming that the contract was awarded on the basis of political favoritism.

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