The latest figures are in on the seemingly bottomless hole that is healthcare.gov, the troubled federal insurance marketplace web site. By any measure, the Obama Administration was grossly negligent in the creation of the system, which ultimately failed on its rollout despite numerous warnings of substandard work, overruns, and major technical problems. It appears that we are not done with bill for the program. A new Inspector General report stated that the Obama Administration issued sixty contracts from 2009 to 2014 to build Healthcare.gov, which had already cost roughly a half a billion dollars by February 2014. However, the Administration has signed new contracts that obligate the taxpayer to cover an addition $300 million, and the estimated value of the sixty contracts totals $1.7 billion. Despite numerous accounts and reports on the mismanagement of this program, there appears to be little real effort to hold anyone accountable as we continue to pour hundreds of millions into this system. The contracts include money to CGI Federal, the well-connected company that was partially response for the disaster in October as well as other controversies in large contracts.
With some contracts obligating as much as $200 million, healthcare.gov has become a major cash cow for some companies like Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and HP Enterprise Services. Of the 60 contracts, nearly $800 million has been committed for the development of the Federal Marketplace as of February 2014.
Worse yet, The Hill is reporting that the Administration is due to pay at least 20 contractors more than their original estimates for work on HealthCare.gov and the rollout of ObamaCare. Thus, the overruns are continuing and, despite the dismal work done on the rollout, even the most dubious companies are continuing to benefit from the windfall. Most notably, while one 2011 contract with CGI Federal was estimated to be worth $93 million at its awarding, CGI Federal could ultimately receive more than $200 million. The CGI Federal contract (and its dismal performance) has been the source of considerable criticism over the companies connections to fundraising for the Obama campaign and personal connection to the First Lady (Toni Townes-Whitley, a senior vice president at CGI Federal, was a Princeton classmate and friend of First Lady Michelle Obama). I am less concerned over the personal relationship allegations (which seen speculative at this point) as with the simple question of how a company (one of a number of companies) could continue to produce subpar work on a major federal project and still receive massive overrun payments.
What is maddening is that the House of Representatives killed one of the oldest programs in the United States, the page program, for $5 million dollars but it barely makes news that we will spend $1.7 billion on a grossly managed marketplace website. Overruns are shrugged off and you will barely find any mention of the IG report among the major media.
The subsidies were the carrot to get the states to set up exchanges. It did not occur to them that more than half would revolt.
And without those subsidies, everyone will discover what I’ve been living with already – Obamacare is COMPLETELY UNAFFORDABLE without subsidies.
Because that’s what happens when the government jumps into industry, declares that we need all this “free stuff” and other benefits that exponentially increase premiums and make deductibles sky rocket, limit drug formularies, and restrict doctor and hospital choice.
And that is why private industry is better than government industry. That’s why we were set up as a capitalist nation, rather than a socialist one from the beginning. (Barring that disastrous temporary experiment in Socialism by the Pilgrims.)
I can see why Congress has an approval rating similar to death, the IRS, and cockroaches, with the kind of government waste discussed in this post.
But wait, we have to pass it to know what’s in it . . .
Karen,
Perhaps you can help answer a question that’s been nagging me since the two courts recent rulings on tax credits:
If qualified IRS tax credits were available even if the States did not set up an exchange then what was the incentive for the States to create their own exchanges? After all, the Feds set up exchanges for the States that didn’t create them.
I saw a video of a speech by Elizabeth Warren where she basically said, “You didn’t build that.” That it was unfair that the rich use roads and bridges built by the poor, and they hire employees educated at schools funded by taxpayers.
She clearly does not understand how government actually works.
The rich pay the vast majority of taxes in the US, so they can use whatever roads and bridges they want. After all, the poor use them, and they didn’t pay a dime for their construction. And they paid taxes used to fund those schools.
To think of someone so completely ignorant in how things work, so obviously unconcerned for many of the constituents she represents, just to earn some political points, is chilling.
We have enough ignorance, deceit, and irresponsibility in DC already.
Government procurement overpays and under-delivers because they spend other people’s money and do not have to answer to anyone (like customers) for poor performance.
That fatal flaw is also why single payer would be a similar disaster.
Help! Lost a post!
And furthermore, in my opinion, Obamacare should be repealed.
Jill, You just reminded why I avoid discussions w/ you. Thanks. Enjoy Labor Day Weekend. It just doesn’t seem the same w/o Jerry wheeling those crippled kids out and singing, You’ll Never Walk Alone. Maybe we need a telethon for starving obese children.
So Jill. Are corporations people then? or not? Do they have the religious rights, political speech freedoms, social obligations and legal liabilities of individuals? or not? You can’t have it both ways you know.
If individuals who are working for corporations commit crimes is the entire corporation liable? Do you want person hood for a corporation or do you not?
Be clear and be consistent.
Nick, I am talking about fraud by individuals. A corporation is run by individuals knowingly committing fraud. These individuals are rich and well connected or part of the group that runs things. JT’s post is about some of those individuals who work for or own corporations and benefit from fraud.
The denial of hunger in the US is not something you and I will ever agree on. That denial is counterfactual.
Jill wrote: “A corporation is run by individuals knowingly committing fraud. These individuals are rich and well connected or part of the group that runs things.”
My corporation is not run by anyone knowingly committing fraud. I am not rich and well connected either. You should perhaps qualify what corporations you are talking about. I am so tired of people talking bad about corporations. We are people and deserve a little bit of respect. When there are evil people behind corporations, you get evil corporations. Same thing in government. When you have bad people running government, people suffer. Get good people in government and everybody is happy. When good people are running corporations, they do a lot of good.
DBQ, You’re a great addition. There’s a great scene in the movie, Cinderella Man. Jim Braddock was a struggling boxer during the Depression. With great reluctance he took govt. funds to help feed his kid, back when they’re truly was hunger, my mom being a victim. When he started winning fights and making money he walks into the welfare office and pays back the money, thanking the clerk for the help. That’s the social contract.
My mom was one of 13 kids, w/ an alcoholic absent father. A few times this tough woman talked about being hungry as a child . About going to bed hungry w/ stomach pains. About her mom making her and her siblings come home for lunch when there was nothing to eat. That Irish pride not wanting anyone else to know the families plight. My wife is an elder in her church. On Wed. she and folks form out local Catholic Church cook spaghetti for a food kitchen in Madison. Wed. is spaghetti night. I do the cooking @ home and she takes it to the kitchen. I can’t go. I have gone and seen people I know have jobs w/ the City making 60k or more eating there. It’s an honor system. The social contract. Oh wait, the social contract was shredded decades ago!
I also deplore the government giving out money to selected industries and corporations within those industries. This makes for an uneven playing field and creates a condition ripe for corruption. Which was the topic of Turley’s post originally, I believe.
However the problems arise when people who want to discuss don’t define their terms. Jill seems to be confusing or conflating “corporations” with the people who are employed by them. Although sometimes there isn’t a difference so that is understandable. This also brings us to the Burger King broohahaha. If ALL businesses have the same level playing field and the ability to use the tax code as it is written, ugly loopholes and all, then it is a fair fight. For the heavy hand of the government to come in and either put the thumb on the scales or give it a boost from underneath is where the corruption begins.
Lumping people by a definition of rich “If you are rich and well connected you aren’t going to work and you’re going to get paid very well for your laziness and utter incompetence.” (wish I could do italics) or doing the same and calling all poor people “welfare cheats” is basically the same. Bigotry and it isn’t fair or true. Not all “rich” are lazy cheats. Not all poor are welfare slugs either. Define rich. Define poor. Until we are all speaking the same language, intelligent discussion is pretty difficult.
As to food stamps. I’ve been on food stamps in my life and was grateful to have the help. I was also relieved to get away from the system. Poor health and conditions like diabetes are NOT going to be solved by giving people a debit card where they can buy any thing that they want. Until people COOK and understand nutrition, they will buy the same high carb low nutrition junk foods. All we are doing is giving them more ammunition to further ruin their health. I am opposed to unrestricted food stamps and believe that only certain types of food should be allowed to be purchased. I’m also a big believer in a commodities program. Teach people how to cook. This should be mandatory in the public school system.
Jill, I’m sure some people don’t understand that poor people end up buying food that is high in carbohydrates, because it’s cheap, it stretches further than fresh produce, meat, and dairy. Obesity and diabetes is the end result of years of eating badly. Some obese and diabetics may have had the money to buy healthy food, but chose to eat badly. The poor don’t have this choice.
Jill, I DEPLORE CORPORATE WELFARE!! You are preaching to the choir. So, can we agree we agree and now focus on individual fraud??? Fox is the network that reported on it. I would suggest you research them. I’ll Google if you have problems researching, but I don’t do links. Regarding hunger in the US. We are AN OBESE nation w/ the poor being the most obese. Hunger is a faux problem in this country. FLOTUS has focused on poor food choices by the poor resulting in the obesity and even Type 2 diabetes. I am on the record here as being very supportive of that. If you’re going to stick w/ the “hunger” problem, then we have nothing else to say.
Jill,
“The Two Income Trap” and Elizabeth Warren’s latest book “A Fighting Chance” spells out how difficult things are for the working poor and how the system is rigged against them getting ahead or even staying afloat.
Nick, are you able to link me to that ad? If someone is qualified for food stamps there is no reason for them not to apply for them. Children cannot fend for themselves. They deserve to have food. Our child poverty and hunger rates are through the roof. They are getting worse every year. I feel that you may be mixing up Obama’s propaganda about helping the poor and reality, which is things are getting economically much worse for people who are poor. Working people cannot make enough to make ends meet. That is today’s reality for many more Americans than ever before.
This post by JT shows the govt. puts the wealthy on the dole. There’s no ethics to that! The wealthy are dependent on the dole, not those who are poor. If you are poor and can work, you’re going to. If you are rich and well connected you aren’t going to work and you’re going to get paid very well for your laziness and utter incompetence.
Jill, just try reloading the site. Sometimes when replying to a commenter using WordPress tool, it doesn’t show up when yo go back to the thread. I’ve had to reload the front page a few times in the past to get the comment to show up.
Jill, I am seeing my comment. Do you connect via your email?
Nick, I can see that you made a comment in the comment list. Everytime I try to get to it, it does not show up in the actual comment section.
Jill, After taking office the WH put out radio ads on Spanish speaking radio stations. They were in a narrative almost soap opera fashion. A mom is talking w/ another mom and telling her she is cheating her children if she doesn’t sign up for food stamps. You see, many Hispanics have an ethic, that social contract, that you don’t take a handout unless you really need it. That was the ethic of my 4 immigrant grandparents. That is the ethic that help make this the greatest nation ever. When Fox reported on these guilt tripping Spanish radio ads, they stopped! Hispanics are a new wild card. Don’t forget, they also vote Republican. W got 35%. the Dems are working them hard and making big inroads. Making people dependent, like Dems have done w/ black voters, is deplorable.