Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time • Hacker News Board

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#31

Post by stcredzero » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:33 PM UTC

enjo wrote: post #15

brandonb wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately we're not doing any recordings -- it's hard to be candid and recorded for all history at the same time. :(

This is an absolutely baffling comment. Particularly for a community (hackers) that value openness and transparency above pretty much all else. What in the world are you talking about, to a general public audience, that can't be heard by the rest of the world?

Particularly for a community (hackers) that value openness and transparency above pretty much all else

Yeah, keep telling yourself that. The hacker community as a whole "values openness" when it suits them. 90% of the time, it's tribal Homo sapiens pattern matching the markers of their own tribe while imitating the outward appearance of the 10% that truly matters.

Valuing truth over your own ego is a majority stance and a minority capability around here.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#32

Post by rak » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:33 PM UTC

brandonb wrote: post #2

A bunch of the folks in this article are Y Combinator or Google alumni, and we're giving a talk on Saving HealthCare.gov next Thursday in SF for anyone who's interested: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/saving-healthcaregov-tickets-118... Let us know if you have questions! Or if you want to help. UPDATE: we seem to be sold out. Trying to find a larger venue. In the meantime, feel free to sign up on the waiting list and yo…

Could you please consider posting videos of the talk? A local group on software engineering did a talk I could not attend but I am interested.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#33

Post by sp332 » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:33 PM UTC

vinhboy wrote: post #24

So... are we going to get any of our taxpayer money back from the people who fucked up the first time? On another note I am really delighted to see that the government was forced to step out of their bubble to make this happen.

Nope, in fact we're still giving them money for new projects. http://www.cgi.com/en/media-announcement

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#34

Post by angersock » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:33 PM UTC

abstractbill wrote: post #28

enjo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an absolutely baffling comment. Particularly for a community (hackers) that value openness and transparency above pretty much all else. What in the world are you talking about, to a general public audience, that can't be heard by the rest of the world?

YC talks aren't recorded, for similar reasons. When you know every word you say will be potential fodder for a sensationalist news story, it's harder to be blunt about what went right and wrong.

There's a difference between talks for invenstors/entrepreneurs, and talks about fixing a massive clusterfuck of government spending.

Especially when the narrative people want to spin is "Gee golly whiz look at those Silicon Valley folks saving the day!".

Anything else is CYOA, and it'd be nice if people could actually rise to the occasion and be honest and precise.

(Besides, if you are honest on everything, and somebody just hits you out of context, you can defend yourself by providing additional context. None of this is going to matter in 5 years anyways, so might as well set a good example.)

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#35

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:35 PM UTC

austinhutch wrote: post #10

brandonb wrote: post #2

A bunch of the folks in this article are Y Combinator or Google alumni, and we're giving a talk on Saving HealthCare.gov next Thursday in SF for anyone who's interested: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/saving-healthcaregov-tickets-118... Let us know if you have questions! Or if you want to help. UPDATE: we seem to be sold out. Trying to find a larger venue. In the meantime, feel free to sign up on the waiting list and yo…

So cool! Just got my ticket.

[deleted]

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#36

Post by stcredzero » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:35 PM UTC

nickff wrote: post #30

enjo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's incredibly difficult. When government money is involved the good old boy network swings into action. Contractors are picked based on political connections first and actual capabilities second.

The connections are more often bureaucratic than political.

And such behavior is also typical in large enterprises.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#37

Post by lhc- » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:35 PM UTC

pdeuchler wrote: post #27

brandonb wrote: post #2

A bunch of the folks in this article are Y Combinator or Google alumni, and we're giving a talk on Saving HealthCare.gov next Thursday in SF for anyone who's interested: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/saving-healthcaregov-tickets-118... Let us know if you have questions! Or if you want to help. UPDATE: we seem to be sold out. Trying to find a larger venue. In the meantime, feel free to sign up on the waiting list and yo…

Not to start a political flame war, but... How do you, as technologically savvy people who are in a better position than most to understand the grave transgressions of the NSA, reconcile your support of an administration that has shown complete disregard for our privacy and civil liberties (specifically within the scope of the NSA/Snowden scandal) with your inherent duty, as an engineer of powerful systems, to above…

While I can see huge ethical concerns were this project related to the NSA, I don't think you can necessarily force that association here. While I agree with your frustration with the administration, especially with regards to surveillance and civil rights, I also would like to see the ACA do well and lead to a better life for most Americans. I don't think its wrong to want to work on solving this problem (healthcare) while disagreeing with other actions of the government, as the above poster is working on something that will directly help millions of americans. I see improving healthcare as a separate issue from the NSA scandals, and I think that, in refusing to help with fixing healthcare.gov, you are harming millions of poor and needy Americans without actually accomplishing much of anything.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#38

Post by redthrowaway » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:36 PM UTC

pdeuchler wrote: post #27

brandonb wrote: post #2

A bunch of the folks in this article are Y Combinator or Google alumni, and we're giving a talk on Saving HealthCare.gov next Thursday in SF for anyone who's interested: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/saving-healthcaregov-tickets-118... Let us know if you have questions! Or if you want to help. UPDATE: we seem to be sold out. Trying to find a larger venue. In the meantime, feel free to sign up on the waiting list and yo…

Not to start a political flame war, but... How do you, as technologically savvy people who are in a better position than most to understand the grave transgressions of the NSA, reconcile your support of an administration that has shown complete disregard for our privacy and civil liberties (specifically within the scope of the NSA/Snowden scandal) with your inherent duty, as an engineer of powerful systems, to above…

You can both support building a tool to give people healthcare and be against government surveillance. Most people are able to compartmentalize their support or opposition for various government policies and do not see the doing of one thing they don't like as a reason not to support any other thing the government does.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#39

Post by nhebb » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:41 PM UTC

brandonb wrote: post #2

A bunch of the folks in this article are Y Combinator or Google alumni, and we're giving a talk on Saving HealthCare.gov next Thursday in SF for anyone who's interested: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/saving-healthcaregov-tickets-118... Let us know if you have questions! Or if you want to help. UPDATE: we seem to be sold out. Trying to find a larger venue. In the meantime, feel free to sign up on the waiting list and yo…

Did you redesign it from scratch or were you able to leverage any existing code?

Were the original developers developing against a (mostly) static spec, or were the terms constantly being changed up until October of last year?

Are there any plans to carry this forward and redesign some of the state exchanges?

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#40

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 05, 2014, 9:44 PM UTC

pdeuchler wrote: post #27

brandonb wrote: post #2

A bunch of the folks in this article are Y Combinator or Google alumni, and we're giving a talk on Saving HealthCare.gov next Thursday in SF for anyone who's interested: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/saving-healthcaregov-tickets-118... Let us know if you have questions! Or if you want to help. UPDATE: we seem to be sold out. Trying to find a larger venue. In the meantime, feel free to sign up on the waiting list and yo…

Not to start a political flame war, but... How do you, as technologically savvy people who are in a better position than most to understand the grave transgressions of the NSA, reconcile your support of an administration that has shown complete disregard for our privacy and civil liberties (specifically within the scope of the NSA/Snowden scandal) with your inherent duty, as an engineer of powerful systems, to above…

[deleted]