Everything pretty much stops anymore when the systems “go down” or “don’t work” and this is yet one more situation and folks have gone for over 3 months with no stamps or payments.  We know systems are going to fail and when you get into massive government projects like this, well I think it’s time to do what hospitals doe when their systems go down, they have a temporary “paper” back up system.  It is just that “temporary” and notimage meant to replace electronic medical records at all but it can be used in an organized formatted process when needed and data gets entered later.  What’s wrong with this?  If used this way, paper saves lives and doesn’t kill, as again it’s only temporary and folks are smart to have a back up system that can be used immediately. 

Several states including California have had issued to where the cards didn’t work when they were used at stores to buy groceries and there was a back log but I don’t seem to remember 3 months before things were taken care of for the consumer.  Xerox was the contractor that had a computer glitch in 17 states that left consumers having to abandon their groceries at the stores. 

According to this article, same old story with the “Sebelius Syndrome” here too thinking there’s miracle IT infrastructures out there and they rush out and put the system in place and operating before enough testing and other bug finding procedures can be accomplished.  With Healthcare.Gov it was folks thinking Algorithm fairies would pull them through along with a few prayers.  Code doesn’t work that way and you can pray all you want but it’s not going to help if the algorithms are not working together.  Obamacare is a mess of Killer Algorithms you could say as well as in addition to errors and not getting access, many don’t know what they have, if their policies are in place, what doctors they can see and so on. 

Obamacare - One Big “Attack of the Killer Algorithms” No Matter Which Direction You Turn, Compounded With a Lot of Government and Consumer “Algo Duping”….

Accenture is on the hook for this one with software made by a subsidiary of IBM.  Many churches have helped to supply groceries to those who could not get their food stamps.  BD 


On the 13th of every month, she has counted on seeing a $600 payment on her food-stamp debit card. But now, that payment is a month late.

Simon and thousands like her in North Carolina had enough to worry about before a computer glitch began to fray this basic part of the social safety net.

Last July, government computers across the state repeatedly crashed, preventing caseworkers from processing food stamp applications and recertifications for weeks. Eight months later, North Carolina officials are still scrambling to clear the resulting backlog.
The food stamp delays can be traced to troubles with a computer system designed by Accenture, one of the world’s largest consulting firms. The company is among a small group of politically connected technology contractors that receive government business across the country despite previous criticism of their work.

Accenture won the North Carolina contract after spending thousands of dollars on political contributions and lobbying in the state. North Carolina hired Accenture even though at least six other states -- Colorado, Florida, Wyoming, Kansas, Wisconsin and Texas -- have canceled contracts with the company in the past decade over problems with its computer systems.

But the backlog kept growing. By the end of last year, more than 30,000 families in North Carolina had waited more than a month to receive food stamps -- a violation of federal rules that require routine applications be processed within 30 days. About one third of those families had waited three months or more.

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