I'd really like to know if it was the private contractors that f'd up

[hollysmom]

10. seriously?

it is RW talking points that is forcing it to be a joke. Plenty of systems have gone wrong. Plenty of sub contractors have been bad. Usually companies can back out and go back to the old system, there is just no old system here. What they should have done is introduced it slowly. maybe a few states at a time. This is a huge system

I worked at Blue cross where incompetent consultants were a rule (and I say this as spending most of my career as a consultant) and a 6 year system had to be dropped because it was 10 times the original estimate and was never going to work. I had a friend work on a system fora brokerage that had to be backed out after a few hours because it threatened to take down the networks it interfaced with.

And you want to talk about the huge federal systems - try talking about the air traffic network. last I heard that was still simulating a computer from the 60's because no one has successfully been able to replace this system, they just don't talk about it because people would stop flying, people like me. I don't know how many times they tried to replace it, I think they finally did it piecemeal.

Why they did not expect it? I have no idea. But is it exaggerated - you betcha. I have seen a lot worse.