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>I did assume you knew who turned around the website debacle.
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>Only 3.5 years and a budget into the $ 9 figures?! No wonder it couldn't get done, which is why they needed a handful of geeks to get it done properly in a matter of months. ;-)

First, you seem to think it's been "turned around" and is now done. It's far from "done". The back end payment reconciliation/Open Payments piece, which was supposed to have been a done deal by now, is way behind schedule and riddled with quality problems. The AMA and over 100 different health organizations are pressing to announce a formal delay until next year. As furious as the insurance companies are about this, they also know they can't voice too much of an opinion, since some are in discussions with senior White House people over a possible bailout next year. Yes, they are extremely nervous, and they should be.


Second, on your dollar figures - the Inspector General for HHS is now estimating the cost of healthcare.gov to be 1.7 billion, when they factor in the value of the remaining contracts.

Third, I'm certainly not going to exclude the original vendor as a cause of the initial problems. But when you read the published accounts of the sequence of events, it's extremely clear that HHS was put in a project management role for which they were unprepared.

This new framing of "we were rushed, we didn't have enough time" only serves to add to the credibility of the Republican argument last September that the entire mess should have been delayed a year. They can't have it both ways. Truth hurts.

And finally, on the argument that you and Mike Beane tried to make last week about majority of Americans being happy with ACA (which is completely untrue).....even Kaiser (which historically has been a bit liberal leaning) is reporting in their Health Tracking Poll (which they've been taking for years) is reporting that ACA is more unpopular than it is popular in 16 of their polls. Additionally, RCP has compiled a long list of polls (140 of them) that show the unpopularity of ACA:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html#polls

And once again, a number of different physician surveys in the US showing that licensed physicians oppose some or all of ACA, anywhere between about 55% and 65%

Bottom line - there is no polling trend in the US that shows an overall favorability rating of ACA. You can certainly find specific demographics where it's more favorable, but you cannot find overall favorability ratings of any significance.

Will save the best (or worst) for last. Initial projections from the ACA architects were that ACA would cost $938 billion over a decade and would reduce the number of uninsured people by 19 million as of 2014 Then that figure was adjusted to 1.6 trillion. Then it was adjusted again this past February to just over 2 trillion. That same time the # of uninsured would be reduced by 13 million. Then in April it was adjusted to be reduced by 12 million. Now two institute studies are saying the # of uninsured has been reduced by 8 million

Bottom line - it's failing to achieve the target, and is costing more. It's also had a perverse effect on the labor market. And few Democrats up for re-election in the fall are willing to stand behind it.