State needs to exorcise ghosts in claims machine

Here we go again. After years of preparation, and millions of dollars spent to set it up, another troubled government website fails to launch properly and leaves thousands of frustrated users facing penalties if they can’t access the website in a timely fashion.

Government officials knew there would be problems, but pressed on after delaying the initial launch and spending more than $6 million to ensure a better rollout. Sound familiar? This time, the problem isn’t the fault of Obamacare. This time, the onus falls squarely on one of the biggest critics of federal healthcare reform, Gov. Rick Scott, who has some explaining to do for the troubled start-up of Florida’s new website for unemployment benefits.

The website, called CONNECT, is the state’s $63-million upgrade for an outdated system of processing jobless claims and benefits. Officials at the state Department of Economic Opportunity concede there’ve been hiccups, but dismiss the problems as “minor technical issues.”

Try telling that to the 235,000 users whorely on the website, which of late has produced almost as many error messages, long waits and system crashes as benefits.

The state DEOhotlines aren’t muchhelp either. Trying to reach a real human voice during the CONNECTrollout has proved difficult.

Many of the disgruntled have shared their angst on DEO’s Facebook:

Detailed information on how many people have tried and failed to process their unemploymentcompensation claims has been slow in coming. The department has increased operations at its call centers.

If there is one enduring lesson from this debacle — aside from the need to better vet government technology contracts and better test government websites before their rollouts — it is that real live humans should be around to help people whoare unable to navigate web-based systems.

However, in 2011, Florida stopped accepting benefits applications over the phone or in person, forcing applicants to go online.

The website’s rollout hasn’t helped the state’s standing with the U.S. Labor Department, which in July said Florida was failing federal standards by lagging on initial unemployment payments, taking too long to determine eligibility and not fully evaluating claims. At the time, DEOspokeswoman Jessica Sims blamed the aging computer network.

DEOinitially thought the $63-million redo had solved the problem. Two days after the website’s unveiling, Sims called the debut a “success.” But not long later, snags, freezes and error messages showed up.

Florida’s unemployed deserve better.

Scott says he wants to run the state like a business. If so, at the moment, there needs to be a sharper focus on customer service.

One Facebook poster put it best: