For better or (more likely) worse, healthcare.gov is the most visible aspect of what seems to have become the white elephant of the 21st century, officially named the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as PPACA, Obamacare and ACA. It certainly didn’t help that healthcare.gov had massive performance issues from the very beginning. And while performance has improved over time, things still aren’t really looking up, as “conversion” rates are very poor, actual payment for policies is not yet implemented, and there are significant concerns about the potential for (and some claimed actual) security failures in the site itself. But given that this is a software project, and that we’re a software company that has made mistakes just like everyone else, what learning experiences can we draw from it?
