On the day the White House promised the Obamacare website would be fixed, CNN attempted a live enrollment, only to have the site crash during the segment.
Tag Archives: Obamacare Website
Obamacare Official Admits Something So Incredible You’ll Wonder Why You’re Just Now Hearing About It
[H/T The Blaze]: A large portion of the error-riddled, multimillion dollar federal health insurance exchange system has not even been built yet, according to a senior official involved in the construction of the website.
Deputy chief information officer of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Henry Chao (Getty Images)
The revelation came Tuesday during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the possible security risks surrounding healthcare.gov.
“The committee’s been reviewing materials that indicate that some parts of healthcare.gov were not completed before the launch, as we’ve discussed here,” Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said. “What portion of the website remained to be created when you launched on October 1st?”
“I don’t have an exact percentage,” said Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “I look at it in terms of overall marketplace systems.”
“I think it was a set of priority functions that needed to be in place,” Chao added.
“Well, how much do we have to build today?” Gardner pressed.
“Just an approximation, we’re probably sitting somewhere between 60 and 70 percent,” Chao said.
“Sixty to 70 percent that needs to be built still?” Gardner said.
“We still have to build the payment systems to make payments to issuers in January,” the Obamacare official said before adding, “the online application, verification, determination, plan compare, getting enrolled, generating enrollment transaction – that’s 100 percent there.”
“But the entire system is 60 to 70 percent away from being complete,” Gardner said.
“There’s the back office systems, the accounting systems, the payment systems … they still need to be done,” Chao said.
Chao, not disputing the figure, said the 60 to 70 percent that has yet to be built would be tested “in the exact same manner we tested everything else.”
But here’s something: Later in the hearing, Chao referred to the remaining 30 to 40 percent of the system that has yet to be built.
Perhaps he flipped the percentages in his head? This would seem strange considering Gardner repeatedly pressed him on the 70 percent figure.
“(R)egardless of the exact number, Chao’s response is utterly devastating,” Townhall’s Guy Benson wrote. “Somewhere between 30 and 70 percent of Obamacare’s online system has not yet been constructed or tested. They’ve had over three years.”
Top 5 Strangest Moments: Kathleen Sebelius’ ‘Mortifying’ Obamacare Hearing on Capitol Hill
[H/T TheBlaze]: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appeared Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee to testify on the disastrous implementation of Obamacare.
And some are calling Sebelius’ appearance before Congress, her first since healthcare.gov went live on Oct. 1, a total disaster. In fact, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer characterized her testimony as “mortifying.”
Here are the five strangest moments from Sebelius’ Wednesday hearing (in no particular order):
5. I’m Not Dead Yet
Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas) made everyone uncomfortable Wednesday when he jokingly said he may not live long enough to see the Obamacare implementation issues resolved. The 90-year-old later said he was kidding around — but only after the situation had become thoroughly awkward for everyone involved:
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4. Men Can’t Have Babies
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) insisted Wednesday that the secretary explain why Obamacare includes a provision forcing men to purchase maternity coverage.
“[M]en are required to purchase maternity coverage,” said Ellmers.
“Well, an insurance policy has a series of benefits whether you use them or not –” Sebelius started.
“And that is why health care premiums are increasing, because we are forcing them to buy things that they will never need. Thank you,” Ellmers said.
“The individual policies cover families. Men often do need maternity care for their spouses and for their families, yes.”
“A single male, aged 32, does need maternity coverage. To the best of your knowledge, has a man ever delivered a baby?”
“I don’t think so.”
The room erupted in laughter:
3. ‘Whatever’
In an attempt to see if the so-called “buck” does indeed end with the president, Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) repeatedly tried to get Sebelius to concede Obama is responsible for the implementation failures.
“No sir, [my department is] responsible,” Sebelius said. “He’s the president of the United States. I have given him regular reports. I am responsible for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.”
Harper again tried to get Sebelius to say the president should be held responsible for the failed rollout of his health care law.
A flustered Sebelius eventually threw up her arms and said, “Whatever,” before repeating that she takes responsibility to the site’s failures.
2. Don’t Do This To Me
After a contentious exchange with Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), a visibly exasperated Sebelius could be heard saying, “Don’t do this to me”:
1. Why Aren’t You Enrolled? Also, Keg Stands!
Congressman Long wasn’t the only lawmaker to question Sebelius over her failure to enroll in Obamacare; Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) did the exact same thing.
“Why aren’t you losing your health insurance? Why aren’t you in the exchange?” he asked.
Sebelius inaccurately claimed that she is not eligible to enroll. She is indeed eligible. She’s just not eligible for specific subsidies.
“I went into the exchange. You could decide to drop your coverage of your employer. You have the choice,” Gardner pressed.
“That is not true, sir,” the secretary responded. “If I have affordable coverage in my workplace, I am not eligible to go into the workplace.”
“With all due respect,” he said, “I would encourage you to be just like the American people and enter the exchange and agree to find a way to do that.”
This prompted applause from members of the gallery:
Hidden Message on Obamacare Website Reportedly Warns Users: ‘No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy’
TheBlaze reported: A secret message has reportedly been uncovered in the coding used to make the exchange website for President Barack Obama’s signature health care program — and it involves the privacy of potential enrollees.
“You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system,” the message reads, according to the Weekly Standard.
“At any time, and for any lawful Government purpose, the government may monitor, intercept, and search and seize any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system,” the message reportedly continues. “Any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system may be disclosed or used for any lawful Government purpose.”
The message allegedly appears when the terms and conditions page is visible and can only be seen using an Internet browser’s “view source” tool.
The wording, however, does not appear in the actual terms and conditions agreement users sign when they enroll in the exchanges.
Multiple attempts to verify the Weekly Standard’s report were made by TheBlaze Monday, but were ultimately unsuccessful due to glitches in the website preventing TheBlaze from even creating an account on Healthcare.gov.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services was not immediately available for comment to TheBlaze.
According to the Weekly Standard, however, the phrase “no reasonable expectation to privacy” is a “stock phrase” that is “used in the terms and conditions of many government websites and information systems.”
Obamacare Website Goes Offline for Repairs Again
Breitbart reported: After a long weekend of repairs, the Obamacare healthcare exchange website was ready for action…or not. On Monday night, Healthcare.gov was taken offline again to fix glitches. From 1 a.m. EDT, the Health and Human Services Department stated, the site would be offline for purposes of improving capacity. HHS did state that the site was better than it was before the weekend improvements, and said that it would be taken offline only during nonpeak hours.
HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters said, “The work done to increase access to HealthCare.gov in light of the overwhelming demand is beginning to show results…Our work to expand the site’s capacity has led to more people successfully applying for and enrolling in affordable health coverage online, with wait times being shortened by approximately 50 percent since Friday.”
Given that wait times were essentially infinite for large portions of last week, that’s not too much of an improvement. But even as technical glitches get fixed, the Obamacare law itself needs big fixes – fixes it won’t get as President Obama intransigently stands by every jot and tittle of his eponymous policy.
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