Former Microsoft executive Kurt DelBene will oversee the troubleshooting of the glitch-filled Obamacare Healthcare.gov website. DelBene worked at Microsoft for about 20 years, retiring in July after a company-wide reorganization.
DelBene is replacing Jeff Zients , who is taking a different high-level job in the Obama administration. The ex-Microsoft manager also is married to Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.).
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius posted an announcement about the Kurt DelBene appointment that stated in part:
“Kurt, who most recently served as president of the Microsoft Office Division, will lead and manage HealthCare.gov starting this Wednesday. Kurt has proven expertise in heading large, complex technology teams and in product development. He will be a tremendous asset in our work.”
The troubled HealthCare.gov exchange/marketplace enrollment site reportedly cost the taxpayers somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million .
Earlier this month, Obama administration officials acknowledged that there are still bugs in the revamped HealthCare.gov system after the self-imposed November 30 relaunch deadline. As The Inquisitr previously reported , the original October 1 launch of Obamacare was a disastrous endeavor, with fewer than 100 people able to register for insurance on the first day.
According to Mediaite , this new appointment acknowledges that the HealthCare.gov overhaul still hasn’t made the site fully functional:
“This move is a tacit admission that no amount of experience navigating the bureaucratic morass in Washington will help repair the deeply flawed exchanges. Only a software expert from the area of American life with a record of efficiency in meeting assigned deliverable schedules will do… But the decision to bring in a Microsoft executive on board to spearhead the most complex part of the insurance exchange repair process — building and quality control testing the backend code responsible for payment and data transfers to insurers — is, in a way, an admission of failure. It signals that the administration has finally come to terms with the fact that continually expanding government is of limited marginal utility.”
Do you think that Kurt DelBene’s Microsoft Office experience will help fix HealthCare.gov?