We couldn’t resist this one: The latest cover of New Yorker magazine probably articulates what many are thinking when it comes to HealthCare.gov.
It shows a modern-day presidency relying on technology that is more than a quarter-century old to implement the health-care program of the future: President Obama’s massive Affordable Care Act overhaul. Given the troubles the administration has had in getting the web site up and running after a month in operation, one has to wonder whether the hardware used to build the troubled HealthCare.gov came off a Silicon Valley scrap heap.
A stoic Obama uses what looks like Gordon Gekko’s cell phone from 1987′s “Wall Street” while a nervous Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius crosses her fingers and prays for the best. The two are watching an unnamed techie inserting what appears to be a floppy disk — remember those? — into what appears to be either a Commodore 64 or an Apple II. We’re not sure. And a crude hammer and screwdriver remains handy nearby, just in case someone wants to torpedo the whole program.
What puzzles us is whether the tech guy is supposed to be someone in the administration, or just some random tech guy. We were thinking Microsoft founder Bill Gates meets White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, but we’re open to suggestions……
