Thread: Three 20-year-old programmers build a working Obamacare website in just days (which i

Three 20-year-old programmers build a working Obamacare website in just days (which is more than the government can do)

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 11:47 EST, 10 November 2013 | UPDATED: 11:47 EST, 10 November 2013
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While the Obamacare website still remains broken, three 20-year-old programmers have shown the government how it should be done.
Ning Liang, George Kalogeropoulos and Michael Wasser developed a site in matter of days - and it does things the expensive and faltering healthcare.gov can't do.

From a San Francisco office the men have built HealthSherpa.com, which presents the Affordable Health Care Act data in a much simpler way to the government website.
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Problem solving: The three 20-year-old programmers developed a site in matter of days that does things the expensive and faltering healthcare.gov just can't do.





Easy: The site, designed by Ning Liang, George Kalogeropoulos and Michael Wasser, allows a user to simply input their zip code and view all the health plans available to them


'They got it completely backwards in terms of what people want up front,' Liang told CBS News. The programmer continued: 'They want prices and benefits, so that they could make the decision.'

HealthSherpa.com, which is just two weeks old, allows a user to simply input their zip code and view all the health plans available to them.

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The website claims: 'The Health Sherpa is a free guide that makes it easier to find and sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. We only use carefully vetted, publicly available data.'
The programmers are also adding features to the site, such as a section on tax subsidies. But the three 20-year-olds say they worked on the project as a service rather than to make money.
VIDEO: Three 20-year-old programmers lead the way




Problems: The Obama administration is struggling to get the glitches with healthcare.gov sorted as soon as possible


Quip: 'Now, we've had this problem with the website. I promise you, nobody has been more frustrated. I wanted to go in and fix it myself, but I don't write code,' Obama said about the problems with healthcare.gov on Friday

'There was no thought of, 'How do we make money this time?'' Wasser explained to CBS. 'It was like, 'This is a problem that we know we can solve in a really short period of time. So let's just do it.''

Health Sherpa doesn't try to do the more complex operations that the government site will offer - such as actually applying for insurance coverage.

But it does provide a more streamlined way of searching through the plans, and it is actually up and running.

In contrast to this site, the Obama administration is struggling to get the glitches with healthcare.gov sorted as soon as possible, as the president mentioned in a speech on Friday.



User focused: 'They got it completely backwards in terms of what people want up front,' Liang said of the government site. 'They want prices and benefits, so that they could make the decision.'

'Now, we've had this problem with the website,' Obama said.

'I'm not happy about that, but we're working overtime to make sure that it gets fixed because right now, we've put in place a system, a market place, where people can get affordable health care plans.

I promise you, nobody has been more frustrated. I wanted to go in and fix it myself, but I don't write code,' Obama quipped in an appearance in New Orleans.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...rnment-do.html

The programming work was "outsourced". Might have had better results if they had used an American company ( Even though one of the top officers in the CGI is Michelle Obama's buddy) and US trained programmers. Our young programmers are exceptional. JMO