Obamacare debacle - website outsourced to Canada-based company CGI

 

This has gotten scant media coverage – the company that was awarded the Obamacare contract is a Montreal company, who has had previous failures in Canada.

 

Ironic that a Canadian company got the major portion of our tax money (gazillions) allocated for Obamacare website design, and failed.  But, we should be glad they are incompetent!

 

WASHINGTON, October 22, 2013 — Since the rollout on the first day of October of the Obamacare website, the information technology has been a disaster.

It was a system that the President claimed millions of people would go to in search of health insurance yet the website was unable to handle millions of users.

CGI Federal is the company that was the designated lead on creating and maintaining the website portal for the Affordable Care Act. By all accounts, CGI has failed to accomplish that task, despite having been paid $54 million to do so.

Some have started to question how and why a little known company was awarded such a high profile contract.

CGI is a Montreal headquartered information technology company founded in 1976 by two Canadians in their mid 20s, Serge Godin and Andre Imbeau.

Through a series of small company acquisitions they grew large enough to bid on and be awarded large contracts, including $1.4 billion in awards by the United States government.

In 2010, CGI purchased American military IT company Stanley, Inc. for $1.1 billion, which was the start of highly accelerated U.S. government contract work.

CGI previously worked on healthcare sites in Canada, although its results were questionable. According to the Washington Examiner, Ehealth, Canada’s medical agency, ultimately eliminated its medical registry for diabetics in the nation after CGI became 14 months behind schedule and missed three years of deadlines.

The IT company’s $46.2 million contract was cancelled by Ehealth on September 5, 2012…

Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/political-potpourri/2013/oct/22/cgi-company-behind-failed-obamacare-website/#ixzz2ilYrFCaC

From the Hill - Washington, DC

There were about 12 Patriots in my group today. We visited (for 4.5 hrs) most of the Blue Dog Dems who were on the fence re Healthcare. Also Pelosi's office, and Woolsey's office. We encountered mostly polite receptionists and staffers, but never met with the Reps. A GA congressman, Brown, from Atlanta, stopped us in the hall, and spent about 10 mins encouraging us to continue the pressure - with our visits, with emails, telephone calls, and faxes. I also stopped in at those CA Republican Reps with a "thumbs up" when I passed their doors.

Diane, the Tea Party Patriot organizer from PA, had faxes produced from all over the country, and she handed them out at each stop. As the day wore on, our numbers dwindled. We had a female Dr from Texas who talked to Pelosi's aide for about 20 mins. Then the Dr went off on her own to lobby the Blue Dogs, stating that she thought she could be more effective in her argument/presentation alone.

All offices seemed to be aware of big event tomorrow on Capitol steps.

Woolsey's office gave me two passes to the House of Reps gallery, so I may get a chance to go & hear some of the speeches on Healthcare, either Friday, or Sat.

Real democracy in action! Barb

National Healthcare

THE 47 MILLION UNINSURED AMERICANS by Mike DeNunzio, October 25, 2007, http://www.speakingclearly.org/ ...“The U.S. health insurance system is ailing, it is not dying: 250 million of 300 million Americans have health insurance from their employers or private policies and Medicare, the VA and Medicaid cover seniors, veterans and the poor. The State Children’s Health Insurance (S-CHIP) insures 6.6 million poor children. Congress and the President must re authorize this important program for poor children. It is not intended for adults to age 25 in households with incomes as high as $81,000. “Many Americans want health care in the U.S. to be an entitlement for everyone as in Canada, England and the European Union. Officials in these countries readily admit that the poor, the elderly, minorities and rural residents do not receive timely diagnosis or treatment. The reasons are: Limited access to specialists, insufficient MRI and CT Scans, lack of latest drugs and insufficient beds.”… More HillaryCare -- The Preview By SALLY C. PIPESOctober 12, 2007; Page A17. Wall Street Journal "President Bill Clinton famously declared that the era of big government is over -- after the ill-considered scheme to remake American health care his wife helped to cook up in 1993 helped Republicans retake Congress in 1994. Now Hillary Clinton is back, touting an "American Health Choices Plan." Like the earlier fiasco, Sen. Clinton's current scheme would explode government spending -- the plan's initial price tag is $110 billion -- expand bureaucratic regulation, and threaten the health and financial security of millions of Americans." ... ArnoldCare Makes Things Worse by John Fleischman, FlashReport, 10/10/07...."Yesterday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced a health care plan that would represent a radical and extreme shift in California, moving us significantly down the path towards a government-run healthcare system." ... Our Crazy Health Insurance System by John Stossel, Townhall.com, Sept. 25, 2007. "In the end, we all pay more because no one seems to pay anything. It's why health insurance is not a good idea for anything but serious illnesses and accidents that could bankrupt you. For the rest, we should pay out of our savings."

The Coming Geriatric Tsunami

Mike DeNunzio is former chairman of the SF Republican Party, who ran against Lynn Woolsey last election cycle. He has his own blog, http://www.speakingclearly.org/. Mike is a member of the California Commission on Aging, the principle advisory body to the Governor and the Legislature on issues for Elder Californians. He was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in January 2007 and serves on the Advocacy-Policy Committee.

He is also Campaign Manager for Dana Walsh, the energetic SF woman who is running against Nancy Pelosi for Congress.

Healthcare, Hospitals, and Me

Having just been released from a 3-day "vacation" in the Hospital, I have a few things to say! Actually, since this is the first day I've felt decent in 2 weeks, I'm itching to blog. First, the Doctors and Nurses are angels, no doubt about that. But...the hospital bed is a torture chamber designed to make one feel worse than when admitted. In one of my "feeling better" moments, I had a good conversation with the Doc on duty. (Turns out he spent 4 years in my hometown of Birmingham, and loves it!) I could not resist asking him about the state of healthcare, and I paraphrase what he said: He doesn't think Americans will stand for a full, socialized system in this country. His prognosis: We will eventually go to a system that covers all Americans with very basic healthcare, and then tiered healthcare according to one's ability to pay. We already have private-payer clinics that are doing well. The #1 reason hospitals are going broke is that they must protect themselves from lawsuits, so he (the Doc) performs 4 unnecessary tests on a person, vs 1 test that most probably would suffice. The #2 reason is that hospitals must service all people, including uninsured. They are not allowed, by law, to ask the person's status, legal or illegal. (My note: having spent 6 hrs. in the Emergency Room, listening to all around me, I just don't believe that a hospital ER would turn anyone away who was injured, regardless of status. Just call me Pollyanna?) The Doc sees fewer Americans entering medicine, and more foreign doctors coming to America to fill vacancies. Best fix for our healthcare system: TORT REFORM.