How the problems at Obamacare's HealthCare.gov compare - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement
Opinion

Obamacare -- and 8 other bungled launches

FILE ¿ JULY 26: Facebook has announced it's first earnings as a public company on July 26, 2012 in New York City. Revenue beat Wall Street expectations although shares fell 2.4 percent to $26.19, 29 percent down from it's IPO. Advertising revenue went up 28 percent to %992 million with costs and expensese rising to $1.93 million. .

When Facebook finally made its long-awaited initial public offering on May 18, 2012, orders were delayed and bungled by the Nasdaq exchange. The next day, to the horror of early buyers, the stock started a long slide that would cut its price in half. It took almost a year for Facebook shares to finally return to their IPO price.  (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Share via

HealthCare.gov, the website for the federal insurance marketplaces in 34 states, got off to an epically bad start last month, with technical problems that turned the process of shopping for insurance into an ordeal. The site’s woes have become so famous, they’ve become a punch line in prime time -- last week, the hosts of the Country Music Awards mocked the site’s foibles in their opening skit.

Here are some other debuts that didn’t go as planned. On the plus side for HealthCare.cov, some of the projects eventually worked out their kinks. On the minus side, none faced as tight a deadline for getting things fixed. -- Jon Healey

When Medicare added a prescription drug benefit in October 2005, it did so without an online marketplace -- the site wasn't ready until the following month, and even then it buckled under the demand. Medicare's call center also had problems with long waits and dropped calls, as well as a high percentage of inaccurate responses to seniors' questions.

When Medicare added a prescription drug benefit in October 2005, it did so without an online marketplace -- the site wasn’t ready until the following month, and even then it buckled under the demand. Medicare’s call center also had problems with long waits and dropped calls, as well as a high percentage of inaccurate responses to seniors’ questions.  (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

Google sought to transform the TV-watching experience in late 2010 with a set-top box that could tune in programs from either the Internet or the networks. But it couldn't deliver on its promise, largely because a number of major TV programmers blocked their on-demand episodes from appearing on Google TV devices. Buggy software didn't help.

Google sought to transform the TV-watching experience in late 2010 with a set-top box that could tune in programs from either the Internet or the networks. But it couldn’t deliver on its promise, largely because a number of major TV programmers blocked their on-demand episodes from appearing on Google TV devices. Buggy software didn’t help.  (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

A man rides a shared bike rented through the Citi Bike program in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Oct. 4. The program was beset by mechanical problems and overwhelmed by demand when it launched in May, but it has apparently righted itself since then.

A man rides a shared bike rented through the Citi Bike program in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Oct. 4. The program was beset by mechanical problems and overwhelmed by demand when it launched in May, but it has apparently righted itself since then.  (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

OpinionOpinion

More From the Los Angeles Times

Most Read in Opinion

Advertisement