ThinkProgress writer Igor Volsky compared the Obamacare launch to Google’s Gmail Friday while appearing on Al Jazeera America. "It's going to be bumpy. It's just such a big undertaking. You'll remember when Gmail first launched it was invite only. They didn't want everybody flooding in. The same thing is true here," Volsky said.
Full transcript:
STEPHANIE SY: There seems to already be some challenges, for example, these issues with some websites, these technical glitches. Why is it so hard to get software engineers that can get this landmark healthcare rollout right instead of bumpy rollout?
IGOR VOLSKY: It's going to be bumpy. It's just such a big undertaking. You'll remember when Gmail first launched it was invite only. They didn't want everybody flooding in, they had some glitches in the system. The same thing is true here, only the government is trying to do this in a very big scale and all at once. Initially, in some areas of the country, there's going to be some problems but the hope is that in two, three months, all of this is going to be smoothed out. The good news is that people have six months, six months to sign up, so if there's some glitches in the beginning, hopefully by March 31st, the final day, all of that will be worked out.