Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Healthcare.gov -- A Study in Government Cronyism
    
        
 
     FULL STORY               
Anyone could have seen this coming: Those with "connections" got the well-paid work of constructing the horrendously inoperative Healthcare.gov web site:
Why did they get the work? The report [produced by Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that focuses on government transparency] hints at a likely reason: The companies were big lobbyists, with "some 17 contract winners reported spending more than $128 million on lobbying in 2011 and 2012." Granted, some experience with government work is vital for any contractor, and the federal procurement system is geared to favor those already doing government work, but Sunlight pointed out that the list tips heavily toward those with both existing contracts and political leverage.
Welcome to the world of government-run health care. In the real world, people would know that, were they to choose their cronies rather than those most capable of doing the job most efficiently, they would lose their jobs.
But this, of course, is the government -- and for Kathleen Sebelius and the rest of her underlings at HHS, all is secure. Heck, she's even exempt from the law! And HHS won't even release a list of the contractors who worked on the site -- but here is, at least, a partial list, courtesy of the Sunlight Foundation. And lots of the names look mighty familiar.
The people who are really going to suffer from the inadequacies of the system are, of course, the Americans who paid for it . . . and who will pay again if they are unable to purchase insurance by the ObamaCare deadline.

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