General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: At what point am I allowed to say healthcare.gov is a freaking nightmare [View all]BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)That is plenty of time to implement a system like this. It is not a terribly complicated system. Basically you have account management, you have a database of rates, you have some selection criteria to filter the rates and calculate subsidies, and you have the actual application process. There isn't much more to it than that. I have implemented many systems for more complex than that during my 40 years building business systems.
The thing that is extraordinary is the scale, not the complexity. I would give HHS some slack on the scaling issues, considering that DoS attacks could well be part of the problem. But there is no excuse for all the functional problems. Some of this was clearly not tested in even the most superficial way.
And for all the people just looking to cheer on this parade without understanding what is actually going on, please take the time to familiarize yourself with the difference between COMPLEXITY and SCALE. They are two independent things. If one has never implemented any systems of this complexity, it would probably not be a wise idea for one to criticize this post on that basis.