When it comes to Obamacare, we’re not even sure there is a simple bipartisan debate. CNBC reported last week about the inherent security shortcomings of Obamacare. According to cybersecurity expert David Kennedy on CNBC last Monday, “It could take a year to secure the risk of ‘high exposures’ of personal information on the federal Obamacare online exchange.”
Kennedy added, “When you develop a website, you develop it with security in mind. And it doesn’t appear to have happened this time.” The so-called “white hat” hacker tests online security by breaching websites. He testified on Capitol Hill about the flaws of HealthCare.gov the week prior. Maybe it’s reassuring then that few could actually sign up on the federal portals.
Was an all-encompassing initiative like Obamacare bound to fail?
As purveyors of technology, we’d say, yes. Almost all tech fails, either outright, or in its first iteration. However, this is a unique situation. First off, we’re dealing with highly confidential info, and legal ramifications for not participating. For example, when someone builds an app to help people park in a metropolitan area, no one gets fined for not downloading it when the service isn’t helpful. And, normally, a business is guided by constraints of capital (you only have so much time and money to come through with a solid product). However, it’s comical that such a massive tech project was taken on by the government, who has the authority to spend billions of dollars, and then throw more money at the problem after the fact.
Perhaps it was the lack of monetary constraints that led to this type of Obamacare mistake. “It’s really hard to go back and fix the security around it because security wasn’t built into it,” said Kennedy, who is also the chief executive of TrustedSec.
Hmmm, it’s a good thing we worked that out when we started building Atlas.md, our EMR tool. Although, we’re also approaching health care reform from a different mind set, that of individuals and small practices. In the federal government’s case, they are thinking top-down, take-it-or-leave it. And while the ambition if commendable, the results seem less than desirable.
Although, that also depends who you ask. Because Rachel Maddow of MSNBC is glad to report that Obamacare is terrific now, according to Consumer Reports. And that’s why we all should consider hitting the sidelines during this barrage of rabble rousing. We’ll stick to what we do know — primary care. In the end it doesn’t matter what any of us “think” about federal healthcare reform. The real question is, will more people see doctors and receive “actual” care? Until that’s the media narrative, we’re sticking to business as usual.