This Day The Obamacare Website Crashes On Day One (2013)
Oct 14, 2025
On October 13, 2013, the healthcare.gov launch turned into a spectacular failure, with only six enrollments on day one. The hosts explore the unrealistic expectations set by promises of an Amazon-like experience and the techno-utopianism that fueled overconfidence. They delve into the project’s chaotic organization, revealing red flags ignored and testing failures that foretold disaster. Amid political pressures, blame was tossed among contractors during congressional hearings. Ultimately, the discussion highlights the lessons learned about effective implementation and the impact on public trust.
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Day-One Enrollment Disaster
- On day one of healthcare.gov, roughly 4 million people visited and only six enrolled.
- The launch was immediately unusable and became a national fiasco.
Tech Comparison Raised Expectations
- Barack Obama's promise framed the site as an Amazon/Kayak-like shopping experience.
- That framing set unrealistic expectations for a complex government rollout.
Fragmented Contracts Broke Coordination
- CMS led the build while lacking deep tech expertise and awarded 60 contracts to 33 vendors.
- The fragmentation created coordination failures and ballooning costs ($500M+).