Sorry, Open Source Isn't The Panacea For HealthCare.gov

Open-source advocates think open source is the answer to all HealthCare.gov woes. But it's not that simple.

Over the past decade, I've watched open source become standard operating procedure within large and small enterprises. Once confined to software, open source is at the heart of a hardware revolution led by Facebook, not to mention bleeding over into other industries. There's even an open source ski boot now. 

But broad adoption doesn't necessarily mean open-source code is the solution to all of the world's problems, much less the failing HealthCare.gov website. Despite petitions and PR to the contrary, it's not actually clear that open source will solve what ails Healthcare.gov.

Déjà Open Source?

HealthCare.gov's failure isn't a simple matter of open and closed. After all, HealthCare.gov already is open source. Well, some of it, anyway. As the developer page on HealthCare.gov indicates: