ATLANTA WEBSITE DESIGN FIRM OFFERS TO REDESIGN HEALTHCARE.GOV FOR $3 MILLION

http://www.feltoninteractive.com/1/archives/11-2013/1.html

There's been no shortage of press coverage surrounding the colossal failure of the Health Insurance Marketplace's website, HealthCare.gov.  From day one the site has failed to work properly and even Consumer Reports warned people to stay away.

Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on the failings of HealthCare.gov, making her the highest ranked official to be questioned over the website flaws.  Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked the hardline cost questions to Sebelius.  How much has the HealthCare.gov website cost? Sebelius gave straight answers. "We have spent about $118 million on the website itself and about $56 million has been expended on other IT to support the web."

Some $197 million has been obligated to CGI -- one of the major contract vendors in charge of the entire website application -- to last through March 2014. About $104 million of that has already been expended, Sebelius said.

The website "has not lived up to the expectations of the American people and is not acceptable," said Sebelius in the hearing. "We are committed to fixing these problems as soon as possible."

The federal health insurance marketplace website was down again last night and yet again this morning, inviting further criticism from Republican lawmakers. Committee Chairman Fred Upton, (R-Mich.) pointed out, "the website was supposed to be the easy part." Consumers, Upton added, are "now being forced to go onto an inept website."

Well now Felton Interactive Group {FIG}, a video production and website design studio in Atlanta, is offering the federal government  a redesign of the flawed website for only $3,000,000.  Ryan Felton, the founder of {FIG} states, "We'll be happy to provide the government with a broken website for a fraction of the cost they've already wasted.  This new useless site will function exactly the current useless site, but will save the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars".  

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Hopefully by now you've realized this offer (like HealthCare.gov) is a joke.  But the government's website dilemma is not uncommon.  It highlights what happens when businesses (or governments) fail to plan their website strategy.  Lack of planning leads to cost overruns, broken systems, and websites that are severely lacking in design and functionality.  If you're planning on launching or redesigning your website, get in touch with us and we'll make sure you don't become HealthCare.gov Part II.