On-Line ObamaCare Enrollment For Small Businesses Delayed For One Year; Obama Dumps Verizon

Milestones?

√ employer-mandate delayed one full year
√ small-business on-line enrollment delayed one year
    individual mandate delayed one year 

Politico is reporting:

Marking the latest HealthCare.gov setback, the Obama administration today will announce a yearlong delay of online enrollment for small businesses looking to purchase health coverage through federal-run exchanges, according to an HHS notice obtained by POLITICO.

Small businesses have been able to apply through paper applications since October 1, 2013, and HHS will announce alternative sign-up methods, like enrolling through an agent or broker or directly through an insurer.

That should help individuals access the website when it is "fixed" and able to handle 80% of users.

Of course, those users should be reminded that the FBI warns of US government breaches by "Anonymous" hackers:

Activist hackers linked to the collective known as Anonymous have secretly accessed U.S. government computers in multiple agencies and stolen sensitive information in a campaign that began almost a year ago, the FBI warned this week.

The hackers exploited a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc's software to launch a rash of electronic break-ins that began last December, then left "back doors" to return to many of the machines as recently as last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a memo seen by Reuters. 

The memo, distributed on Thursday, described the attacks as "a widespread problem that should be addressed." It said the breach affected the U.S. Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and perhaps many more agencies.

The healthcare.gov website appears to be particularly vulnerable and Consumer Reports recommends that folks avoid this website. 

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It's a bit confusing on the whys and wherefores, but Obama is dumping Verizon and embracing Hewlett-Packard. [An aside: earlier this morning:  Wow, H-P's sales drop again. Hewlett-Packard posts weaker fourth-quarter sales, the ninth onsecutive top-line decline, but the computer maker swung to a profit and beat expectation.] CNBC is reporting:

The Department of Health and Human Services has tapped Hewlett-Packard to replace Verizon Communications' Terremark subsidiary as the Web-hosting provider for HealthCare.gov, the federal health insurance marketplace that has had a troubled rollout since launching in October.

A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services division confirmed the move Wednesday but noted that the change in providers had been contracted well before the website launched. [Sure.]

And then this:

"As we think about the overall performance and functionality of the site, redundancy is a critical part of our planning and we are working to ensure it in all aspects of the system," the spokesman said in an email to CNBC. [And now they're thinking of this?]