I know I’ve spent a lot of time here on HA recently, scooping the poop spewing from the Seattle Times op/ed pages, so for a change of pace, I’ve posted my latest such piece over on Slog.
Yeah, that’s right, Bruce Ramsey thinks we need more money in politics. Read the whole thing.
It doesn’t take much effort to find poop in the Seattle Times these days. Last Sunday’s front-page “expose” of the state’s new Medicade claim-processing computer system? The one which claimed that the system was “plaged by glitches”, improperly rejected or delayed 15% of claims, and was significantly over-budget?
Turns out … not so much.
The budget was increased as the state’s requests (read change-orders) came in, which isn’t unusual in a project which takes several years to implement. And the delayed claims? That’s how the system is supposed to work – the computer kicks out certain claims for human review. And the outraged providers? Turns out the one quoted most prominently in the Times article had only ten claims submitted, all of which DSHS says were denied “for good reason”. And the 15% error rate? Not even close.
So what happens when the State tries to get a retraction, or at least a clarification? They get the same response the reporters from the Seattle Weekly got – that the story was written by AN INTERN, who’s last day on the job was – last Friday. And no, don’t expect a retraction or a clarification, as far as the Times is concerned, it’s all water under the bridge.
Seattle Times Expose of State’s New Medicaid System Gets Attacked By DSHS
And what’s up with the Times leading the Sunday front page with a story written by an intern? Don’t they even get fact-checkers, or give the state a normal work-day to respond? What are the editors doing, besides writing misleading headlines?
Of course, wingnuts will still be quoting the Seattle Times story for the next couple of decades as evidence of government incompentence, without bothering to point out that the story appears to be seriously flawed.
@1 “Of course, wingnuts will still be quoting the Seattle Times story for the next couple of decades as evidence of government incompentence”
Let’s spend the next couple of decades attacking it as evidence of Seattle Times incompetence.
I’ve never met a Republican who didn’t think there’s too much money in politics when it’s George Soros’ money.
If unions could outspend corporations 10-1 to promote workers’ interests, Bruce Ramsey would be agin’ it because he believes that votes in the workplace are “using force” but capturing the state and bending the rules in your favor enabling your group to grab an outsized share of the goodies the economy produces is an expression of some kind of Natural Law, the pure essence of Freedom incarnate.
1
Ah, yes, the liberal media . . .
rhp @ 1
Wow. Awesome comment. Thank you.
Hiding behind an intern. Pathetic. [*]
Since I’ve done healthcare IT, a friend forwarded that article to me. The Times lost me at the headline. I explained to my friend…
Healthcare is the hardest problem I’ve worked on. Insanely complicated, lots of moving parts, requirements constantly changing.
Software (worth doing) is almost always late and overbudget.
So even if ProviderOne was flawed, I wouldn’t get excited.
There are three correct strategies for tackling the healthcare IT beast:
#1 – Universal healthcare with a single payer GREATLY simplifies the problem.
#2 – Have multiple teams tackling the same problem. Nothing motivates better than competition. Then harvest the good bits from the second place projects.
#3 – Release early, release often.
Alas. Such obviously correct strategies are unlikely to be used.
The trouble with software projects begins with contract negotiations. Long before us software people get involved. We usually end up at the end of the parade, pushing wheelbarrows, shovels in hand, cleaning up after the elephants.
[*] Lack of attribution is why I stopped reading The Economist. Anonymous Cowards have no standing with me.
Hi Goldy.
Ramsey paraphrased:
“Money is like violence. If it doesn’t solve your problem, you’re not using enough of it.”
Cheers, Jason