Shaw's Eco-Logic

If I were a masochist, I would detail here all the insider corruption involved with the Obamacare rollout. To preserve my sanity, I offer only a taste...

CGI, the largest contractor, has ties to Michelle Obama, and that must make up for their often abysmal performance in other jobs. Due diligence, what's that?

The company now charged with fixing the unholy mess that is healthcare.gov—QSSI—was already part of the project, and by most accounts has done a good job. Nonetheless, the fact that it was purchased by United Health Group in September 2012, months after it was picked by the Department of Health and Human Services to help set up the Affordable Care Act Web site, does strike one as being a massive conflict of interest.

But, give QSSI its due. Here's the problem: To fix this shambles will require almost supernatural cooperation among the vendors, to say nothing of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which formerly was acting as its own systems integrator. BTW--no one seemed to care that financial disclosure forms for the current head of CMS, Marilyn Tavenner, showed that she is getting a $163,000 annual pension for life from her former company, Hospital Corp. of America, a firm whose profits have gone through the roof under Obamacare.

Back to that supernatural cooperation. CMS, still at the very center of any fix, is no longer the systems integrator, and former top dog CGI will now be taking orders from a smaller vendor. In other words, it's all the same people, now acting in completely different roles. What could possibly go wrong?