Blog #9: Healthcare.gov - 3 Things That Don't Mix

There will always be disagreements regarding three topics - healthcare, government, and technology. When you add them all together you get healthcare.gov. And yes, it caused problems. 

Earlier this month, healthcare.gov launched... and failed. The message below was a common sight, and while the crash is blamed on a quick influx of people, there were numerous technological problems to begin with. Like the IPO of Facebook, more research should have been done prior to the launch. There was too much hype and not enough results. An article by ARS Technica, discussed the "seven deadly sins of Healthcare.gov" that I list below and discuss in my own terms. 

1) Hyper-Complexity. There were 3 companies working on the program website with their own objectives. The site needed an actual web page, a computer software to communicate applications from different computers, and a data integration center to collect and disperse the data. It's like having a German brick layer, a Chinese glass-maker, and an American metal worker all trying to build one house in Italy. 

2) Dependency issues. All of the users' data comes from a company outside the government and the tech industry. Therefore, when changes needed to be made to the data, such as names not matching the ages, then you had to rely on a third party that may or may not be reliable all the time. Imagine your roommate controlling whether you get you pass your exams or not.

3) All new construction. The Affordable Care Act is a completely new bill, therefore the systems and algorithms to match it are completely new. Healthcare.gov takes information from other places like insurance companies, yet their systems don't match the new systems. Hence new 'middleware" software has to be developed. When UNC-Charlotte creates a new major, the professor may have taught at a university before but he has to create all new material to make a syllabus.

4) Rolling requirements. As with anything, when they were creating the system, unexpected problems kept arising. Issues added and diminished the requirements of the website and it also created a fluctuating deadline. The CEO of Pepsico constantly changes her long-term strategy to compensate for unexpected factors such as a recession.

5) Anti-testing.  With a fast-approaching deadline, programmers did not have time to test the programs they created. President Obama did a demo, yet it was never pre-tested like companies do with their products. Imagine if you were told that all you had to do to graduate college was give a speech on your major the next day. You probably would make a lot more mistakes than if you had a whole year to prepare for it. 

6) Release late and once. Gallagher suggests that the government could have released a small portion of the site at a time, such as putting up information about the program and it's features the first week and then insurance data the next. In a sense, they bit off more than they can chew. Try eating a caramel-covered apple in one bite.

7) Anti-bugfixing.Programmers did not put the anti-bug software onto the site until after it was launched. Without the appropriate tracking devices, they couldn't figure out where the problems stemmed from. In the morning, try putting you socks on after you shoes. You may be able to do it, but you'll probably have difficulty functioning throughout the day. 

Systems may seem complex, but the problems faced in implementing a system correlate to common every-day problems. The main issue with Healthcare.gov is creating having to create the webpage so quickly. Coordinating between companies to collect data and integrate into an operating system takes time which is why most IT companies only come out with new products and services about every year or two. 

Check out the website at https://www.healthcare.gov/. What do you think? Are there any other "sins" of the website you can think of? How can the government go about implementing systems for legislation going forward?

Gallagher, Sean (2013, October). The seven deadly sins of Healthcare.gov. Retreived from http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/10/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-healthcare-gov/

Blog #8: Improvements for the government's health exchange?

Has anyone tried to enroll through the healthcare.gov site yet? Along with its many controversies, the online health care exchange has had a rocky start. The White House has had problems marketing the site and its purpose to the American people with only a small amount of the population having gone to the site to visit it. Even fewer people actually enrolling for insurance using the site. I haven't had a chance to browse through the website since it has officially been opened so I seem to be part of the majority that has not used the site yet.

Recent polls show that almost half of the population that have visited the site have found it difficult to use. Due to technical glitches and software issues, one of the major problems that the online health exchange is facing is its lack of employees to manage the software running the entire operation. Fatigued by political motives, a government shutdown, and poorly tested programs, hope for the health care exchange has diminished while government officials and contractors try and resolve the issues.

Earlier this week it was announced that Health and Human Services brought in Verizon to resolve and improve the performance of healthcare.gov. Hopefully, Verizon is able to solve the websites crashing problem as well. The White House has stated that they are in the process of using companies outside of their current contractors to repair the exchange as soon as possible. We can only hope! What do you think? Will you use the website to enroll soon? Do you think the site can be repaired?




Works Cited:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/21/verizon-hhs-healthcare-site-fix/3144761/
http://www.nytimes.com/news/affordable-care-act/2013/10/21/awareness-grows-of-online-insurance-exchanges-and-their-problems-survey-finds/?_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/us/politics/from-the-start-signs-of-trouble-at-health-portal.html?pagewanted=2
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57608686/report-verizon-called-on-to-improve-healthcare.gov/
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/android-news/245852-patched-google-wallet-verizon-galaxy-s4.html
http://endrtimes.blogspot.com/2012/09/white-house-and-fema-recognize.html

Blog #7: Snapchat is teaming up with Law enforcement

Law Enforcement agencies have added a new frontier to their investigations; Snapchat. This phone application was sold on its claim that all pictures you take and send through this application are deleted after a ten second viewing window. However, what if these “snaps” are never opened?

A recent article now confirms claims that the co-creators of Snapchat have tapped into their servers to hand over unopened “snaps” to law enforcement per request of a warrant. If you aren’t concerned yet, a forensic software company has already found a way to retrieve opened “snaps” that were claimed to have been deleted forever off the phones of android users, and this company hasn’t stopped there. Claims say that this company shouldn’t be too far from retrieving opened “snaps” from iPhone users as well.

If you find yourself getting upset with Snapchat, you should know that they are only handing over these criminally incriminating “snaps” to avoid legal trouble themselves. Under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), Snapchat is legally obligated to provide evidence if requested by a search warrant. So this should raise the question of whether there is anything that a normal user can send via the internet without the government having access to it.

With the nation moving toward a totally virtual world on the internet, are we under the sorely mistaken illusion that without a paper trail nothing is traceable? With this new information coming to light the youth of America needs to be more cautious as to what transpires over the internet. Everything you search, send, and receive can somehow find its way into the hands of the general public as well as local law enforcement. So I urge you to be cautious of what you involve yourself in over the next few years as we move into a more public society over the internet. They say a picture is worth a thousand words but one mistake today, such as a criminally incriminating “snap”, could cost you much more.

Holpuch, Amanda. "Snapchat Admits to Handing Unopened 'snaps' to US Law Enforcement." The Guardian. N.p., 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

Blog #6 Governments use Internet to give information to its citizens and accelerate transactions and processes.

Nowadays we live in an information age and the Internet has become in a very helpful tool to make our life easier.  We depend on the Internet because we have created our world based in this technology. For that reason, the US government is using the Internet to get closer to its citizens.

One way to do this is making new information available, for example: agency spending, text of legislation, government data, what papers are needed to obtain a particular permission, where are the offices and what are their office hours, etc. The goal of this is to try to be more transparent, allow the population to follow the actions of their governors and make easier and more comfortable to the citizens the transaction of their processes. 

One advantage that the government uses the Internet is that now you can download and submit all the forms and papers that you will need to transact something. This is easier for the citizens and accelerates the process to get what you are looking for. Also, through the website you can track the status of your applications and pay for some services. For example in North Carolina you can pay the taxes for individual income, sales utility, privilege license, motor fuels, corporate franchise, etc. in the website of the State, this saves your time because you can avoid be waiting in long lines.

Likewise, in the website of North Carolina there is a menu called NCWorks Online where job seekers can look for jobs, find training and education and elaborate resumes; while the employers can find and search market information and find the candidates for some specific job. You must register by creating an account and then you can begin searching the job information according to your needs (city, address, salary, hours, etc.) In addition you can know the occupation profile and details and the labor market analysis. 

According to Smith, there are mainly three different ways in which the citizens interact with the government:

*Data driven: government agencies post their data online and allow the citizens to access it.

*Organized around new online platforms: the interactions are moving outside the website, for example: blogs, social networks, email, etc.

*Participatory: the citizens share their personal views, needs and problems with the government.

What do you think of the governments that use the Internet?  Have you ever used any of these services?

Sources

North Carolina government (2013). NCWorks Online. Retrieved from < https://www.ncworks.gov/ vosnet/Default.aspx>

Smith, A. (2010). The Internet gives citizens new paths to government services and information. Retrieved from < http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Government-Online/Summary-of-Findings.aspx>.