$634,000,000 KoolAid Drinkers

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

There seems to be the usual suspects sipping hard on Tea Party Koolaid. The Healthcare.gov website did not cost $634,000,000 as widely claimed by the bloggers for the trained seals.

From Fox News, not a far rightwing blogger liar:

$93M ObamaCare website may face months of glitches, experts warn

$93M ObamaCare website may face months of glitches, experts warn | Fox News

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

At least the National Review still has some integrity.

Shame on the trained seals who have touted this on my other thread. You stepped in it this time, boys.

No, Healthcare.gov Didn’t Cost $634M
No, Healthcare.gov Didn't Cost $634M | National Review Online

 

[hjmick]

But what do we really know about the cost of the website itself?

According to the GAO report, CGI Federal was awarded $88 million (out of the $398 million total) through March 31, for both the FFE information technology and HealthCare.gov. So far, the company has declined to comment how much of that was exclusively used for the website.

In addition, there were several smaller contracts in the GAO report specifically earmarked for the “Web portal,” totaling $55 million. How much of the remaining funds could have gone in part to website-related costs we do not know. As of press time, officials had not returned FoxNews.com calls for clarification.

It wouldn’t be surprising, however, if costs have outpaced original estimates, especially as problems were detected in the system, as FoxNews.com and other outlets reported this week. The administration was adamant about meeting an Oct. 1 launch, which put the pressure on to design and execute fast.

Just how much does HealthCare.gov cost? | Fox News

Digital Trends, where I originally read about the cost, has corrected its original piece:

Obamacare's broken website cost more than LinkedIn, Spotify combined | Digital Trends


Based on the Fox article, I'd say DT is still off base. No matter how you slice it, however, CGI should be answering some questions...

 

[Trajan]

from the digital trends article;


That’s already a hell of a lot of money, but that does not account for all costs accrued for this project. As the GAO states, the $392 million figure does “not include CMS salaries and other administrative costs” associated with the Obamacare exchanges. In other words, the actual cost for the development and implementation of the total Obamacare exchange system is far higher. We’ve reached out to CMS for an exact figure, but thanks to the government shutdown, we have yet to hear from them on this matter. However, we do know, according to CMS’s 2014 budget request (pdf), that agency spent more than $150 million in 2012 and 2013 in relation to the Affordable Care Act – a lowball figure considering that, in its 2013 budget request (pdf), the agency asked for more than $1 billion in additional funds “needed to support operation infrastructure” and open-enrollment preparations of the FFEs.





At this point I can only speculate on the total cost to build out Healthcare.gov and the overall technology portion of the FFEs. Based on the available data, however, a conservative estimate puts the cost so far at over $500 million. Considering the GAO estimates it will cost approximately $2 billion to build-out and operate the FFEs in 2014, this is, if anything, likely far too low. Once we hear back from CMS on this matter, I’ll update this space with more detailed figures above the $363 million we know about for certain.



its only...392 million, party time, we have just 'saved' 300 million


oh and;