Why Obama’s Tech-Savvy Team Couldn’t Make Obamacare Glitch-Free

As the online rollout of the Affordable Care Act continues to be plagued by glitches, many of the president’s allies and foes are wondering the same thing: how could the most tech-savvy White House in history launch a flawed Web site?

There are a few reasons why it’s impossible to translate the technological prowess of Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign into the operation of the federal health-care exchanges. Let’s examine some of them:

1. Obama’s campaign team – which included a chief technology officer as well as a chief innovation officer and a director of analytics — could operate out of the public view. This gave them them freedom to experiment, and they also did not have the hard launch date — Oct. 1 — which policymakers viewed as essential to give consumers time to register in order to make the Dec. 15 cutoff date for insurance coverage starting Jan. 1.

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