Dec 8, 2013 2 min read

So much has been written about the problems with the launch of the website for the new federal health care exchange, it’s hard to select the dumbest thing the administration has done.

We can start that the entire website was not fully tested prior to the Oct. 1 launch date. We can then move to the level of security the site has. And that users are unable to see details until after they enrolled, and on and on.

But, there is something that was decided long before the Oct. 1 enrollment date. It was the decision to tell those interested in getting insurance that enrollment could be done through its website.

Now, consider the people the Affordable Care Act was meant to benefit – the poorest Americans who need health care. What percentage of these people have a computer, access to one or are able to navigate on a complex website?

This demonstrates the shortsightedness of programs that come from a bureaucracy that often does not appreciate the varied levels of education and competency of the people such programs are meant to serve. Consider how the Internal Revenue Service interacts with the public. It sends out tens of millions of tax forms each January, excluding those who file electronically. Why the Department of Heath and Human Services did emulate the system the IRS has used for almost 100 years is hard to understand.

Gerald Fontana

Waynesburg