So, the deadline to fix the Obamacare website has come and gone and it’s still not functioning. At best, 80% of users can now shop for health insurance, which Jeff Zients, the leader of Obama’s nerd herd, says covers the “vast majority” of new consumers. In all, Healthcare.gov can handle 50,000 “concurrent users” and 800,000 users per day. So, we’re out of the woods, right? Nope.
H/T Ashe Schow
We’re far from that, despite the spin from the White House; how can you say a site is functioning when there’s virtually no security built into it?
AND it doesn’t really help when virtually the entire Democratic Party was caught deliberately lying about Obamacare.
The Hill Headline: ”HealthCare.gov Team Claims Victory: ‘We Have Met The Goal’” (Elise Viebeck, “HealthCare.gov Team Claims Victory: ‘We Have Met The Goal,’” The Hill’s Health Watch , 12/1/13)
- “The Obama Administration Claimed Victory Sunday For Making HealthCare.Gov Workable For The Vast Majority Of Users, A Standard That Will Be Tested As Millions Of People Flood The Site In The Next Three Weeks.“ (Elise Viebeck, “HealthCare.gov Team Claims Victory: ‘We Have Met The Goal,’” The Hill’s Health Watch , 12/1/13)
After ObamaCare’s Disastrous First Two Months, The Obama Administration Announced That The Website Was Fixed. ”Two months after the troubled launch of its signature health care initiative, the Obama administration on Sunday announced that its online insurance marketplace now functions smoothly for the ‘vast majority’ of consumers seeking to shop for and enroll in coverage.” (Devin Dwyer, “White House Declares ObamaCare Website Fixed, But Problems Persist,” ABC News, 12/1/13)
BUT PROBLEMS CONTINUE TO HAMPER THE OBAMACARE WEBSITE, UNDERCUTTING CLAIMS BY THE ADMINISTRATION
Despite Claims By The White House That The ObamaCare Website Is “Fixed,” Problems Remain Such As Outages And Slow Response Times. ”Still, significant problems persist with the system. The report implies that the website continues to experience unscheduled outages at least 5 percent of the time, and officials signaled that there are still concerns about slow-downs during high traffic periods.” (Devin Dwyer, “White House Declares ObamaCare Website Fixed, But Problems Persist,” ABC News, 12/1/13)
- “The Ongoing Glitches Could Imperil The Success Of The Enrollment Process.” ”But there is still much left to do for federal health officials, and ongoing glitches could imperil the success of the enrollment process.” (Elise Viebeck, “HealthCare.gov Team Claims Victory: ‘We Have Met The Goal,’” The Hill’s Health Watch , 12/1/13)
A Myriad Of Glitches Still Persist On The ObamaCare Website For Insurers
Insurers Continue To Receive Faulty Data And The Administration Still Must Complete The Subsidy Payment System. ”Insurers continue to complain about unreliable data on applicants which they receive from the site. And the administration has not yet completed building the electronic payment system that will transfer government subsidies to insurance companies to help cover the cost of plans.” (Devin Dwyer, “White House Declares ObamaCare Website Fixed, But Problems Persist,” ABC News, 12/1/13)
- Problems That Affect The 834 Forms That Transmit A Consumer’s Data To Insurers Have Yet To Be Resolved. “Still unresolved is the flawed application data being transmitted to insurance companies in the form of so-called 834 forms. Unless these errors are fully fixed, new policyholders could encounter serious problems when they seek to use their coverage.” (Elise Viebeck, “HealthCare.gov Team Claims Victory: ‘We Have Met The Goal,’” The Hill’s Health Watch , 12/1/13)
- As The Obama Administration Touts The ObamaCare Website Fixes, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Says There Are Still “Significant Issues That Need To Be Addressed” To Ensure That Consumers Are Covered On January 1, 2014. “The main trade group for the industry, America’s Health Insurance Plans, issued a statement Saturday saying that the enrollment data issue was among several ‘significant issues that still need to be addressed.’ ‘Until the enrollment process is working from end-to-end, many consumers won’t be able to enroll in coverage. In addition to fixing the technical problems with HealthCare.gov, the significant ‘back-end’ issues must also be resolved to ensure that coverage can begin on January 1, 2014. In particular, the continuing problems with processing ’834′ enrollment files need to be fixed,’ said the association’s head, Karen Ignagni.” (Louise Radnofsky and Spencer E. Ante, “As Deadline Expires, Problems Persist With Health Site,” The Wall Street Journal , 11/30/13)
And Consumers Still Don’t Have Full Access To The ObamaCare Website
Obama’s Former Campaign Manager And Top White House Aide, David Plouffe , Said It Could Be Years Before ObamaCare Will Work Well. ”David Plouffe said on ABC’s ‘This Week’ that ObamaCare was designed to be implemented by the states. ‘And in most of the states [it] is going quite well. You talked about Medicaid expansion. I think it’s just a fact, and it may take until 2017 when this president leaves office, you’re going to see almost every state in this country running their own exchanges eventually and expanding Medicaid. And I think it’ll work really well, then,’ he said.” (Kyle Balluck, “Plouffe: May Be Years Before ObamaCare Works ‘Really Well,’” The Hill’s Health Watch , 12/1/13)
The Obama Administration Has Already Set Aside Parts Of The Website That It “Sees As Less Critical,” Such As Last Weeks One-Year Delay Of The Small Business Exchange. ”They have also set aside fixes to parts of the site the administration sees as less critical, including most of a separate exchange for small businesses, announced Wednesday. Meanwhile, technicians are eyeing backup options to relieve pressure on the site, including ways to make it easier for insurers to enroll customers and calculate their prices directly.” (Louise Radnofsky and Spencer E. Ante, “As Deadline Expires, Problems Persist With Health Site,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/30/13)
The Spanish-Language Website “Has Been Languishing For Months” And Remains Offline.”The online enrollment site for small businesses will not launch until next year, the administration announced this week, and the Spanish-language system has been languishing for months.” (Elise Viebeck, “HealthCare.gov Team Claims Victory: ‘We Have Met The Goal,’” The Hill’s Health Watch , 12/1/13)
“A Separate, Crucial System Involving Payments To Insurance Companies Also Remained Under Construction As Of Last Month.“ (Elise Viebeck, “HealthCare.gov Team Claims Victory: ‘We Have Met The Goal,’” The Hill’s Health Watch , 12/1/13)
Although The Administration Has Declared The Website Fixed, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Recommended That Users Avoid Accessing The Site At Peak Times. ”HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius advised consumers in a blog post Saturday to visit the site at off-peak times – mornings, nights and weekends – to avoid delays and potential congestion. Officials said today they are not yet ready to begin aggressively summoning people to the site until it’s demonstrated to be stable.” (Devin Dwyer, “White House Declares ObamaCare Website Fixed, But Problems Persist,” ABC News, 12/1/13)
- Just Last Week, The Obama Administration Asked Allies To Not “Send A Flood Of Consumers” To The ObamaCare Website Next Week. ”The Obama administration is quietly asking health care advocacy groups not to send a flood of consumers to HealthCare.gov next week, pushing instead for a more phased approach that won’t overwhelm the website that the administration has pledged would be fully functional by Dec. 1.” (Dylan Scott, “White House Privately Asks For Gradual Return To HealthCare.gov,” Talking Points Memo, 11/25/13)
It Will Take Weeks After The Obama Administration’s November 30 Deadline To Fix ObamaCare Website Problems. “Technicians in the Washington area raced up to a month-end deadline set by the Obama administration to make the troubled federal insurance website work for a majority of users, but officials acknowledged they still faced a raft of problems that could take weeks or more to fix.” (Louise Radnofsky and Spencer E. Ante, “As Deadline Expires, Problems Persist With Health Site,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/30/13)
Despite The Administration’s Goal Of A Website That “Can Handle 50,000 Simultaneous Users,” Contractors Are Still Unsure Whether The Site Has Met That Objective. ”Contractors believe the upgrades will improve the system’s performance and let it handle more visitors, but the person said they are testing the system and aren’t yet sure it can handle 50,000 simultaneous users, the administration’s stated objective.” (Louise Radnofsky and Spencer E. Ante, “As Deadline Expires, Problems Persist With Health Site,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/30/13)
“Big Technical Problems” Remain, Such As The Website’s Ability To Verify Consumers, Challenges To The Data Center, And Parts Of The Website That Have Yet To Be Built. ”But big technical problems still affect HealthCare.gov’s ability to verify users’ identities and transmit accurate enrollment data to insurers, officials say. The data center that supports the site continues to face challenges, and tools for processing payments to insurers haven’t been built.” (Louise Radnofsky and Spencer E. Ante, “As Deadline Expires, Problems Persist With Health Site,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/30/13)
The ObamaCare Website Continues To Be Unavailable For Short Periods. ”But problems with the performance of the site’s databases, storage and servers and their interaction with each other continue to slow the site or make it unavailable for short periods, according to government officials and contractors working on the project.” (Russ Britt, “ObamaCare Deadline Is Today, But Problems Still Linger With Site,” The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch , 11/30/13)
Administrators Of The Wall Street Journal’s “Market Watch” Blog Continue To Run Into Issues On The ObamaCare Website. ”We’ve been trying to file an application for coverage here at MarketWatch, but we keep running into the same issues whenever we try to complete the online form. We’ve asked officials at HealthCare.gov, and they insist these aren’t prevalent for most applications to President Obama’s health-care overhaul.” (Russ Britt, “ObamaCare Deadline Is Today, But Problems Still Linger With Site,” The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch , 11/30/13)
- “Market Watch” Continued To Hit Roadblocks Such As The Website Being Down. ”So we’ve tried to pursue other avenues to get at the same thing, but we keep hitting the same roadblock: ‘Sorry, our system is temporarily down.’ We were getting that message when we tried to fill out an application within the state of Arizona.” (Russ Britt, “ObamaCare Deadline Is Today, But Problems Still Linger With Site,” The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch , 11/30/13)
Others Share The Same Problems Despite The Website’s So-Called Fix, Such As The University Of Maryland’s Business Professor Peter Morici. ”We should add that we don’t get very far in the process before hitting the roadblock. Is it just us? Apparently not. Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, writes to us that many others are running into the same issue of not being able to complete their applications.” (Russ Britt, “ObamaCare Deadline Is Today, But Problems Still Linger With Site,” The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch , 11/30/13)
- Professor Peter Morici: “Applications Are In Limbo … Overall, The Website Still Fails To Complete The Enrollment Process For Many That Try.” ”‘Applications are in limbo – many already initiated are stalled, lost or otherwise can’t be completed. Applicants eligible for subsidies must use the website, or [HealthCare.gov] paper alternatives that can’t handle the volume, but the system often can’t verify applicants’ eligibility for aid,’ Morici writes. ‘Overall, the website still fails to complete the enrollment process for many who try.’” (Russ Britt, “ObamaCare Deadline Is Today, But Problems Still Linger With Site,” The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch , 11/30/13)
A New Report From The White House Raises Questions About The Oct. 1 Launch And Administration Claims That Volume Caused The Problems
The Most Recent Update To The ObamaCare Website Raises Questions Why Website Safeguards Weren’t In Place Before The October 1 Launch. “The new report also renews questions about the administration’s management of the project and why many of the touted ‘fixes’ weren’t in place to begin with, including 24/7 ‘technical monitoring systems’ and daily meetings about the site’s progress.” (Devin Dwyer, “White House Declares ObamaCare Website Fixed, But Problems Persist,” ABC News, 12/1/13)
As New Questions Come Forth, The Administration Said The Website Suffered From Management And Lack Of Execution. ”HHS concluded that the website was ‘fixable but only by significant changes to the management approach and a relentless focus on execution,’ highlighting some serious shortcomings in those areas from the beginning.” (Devin Dwyer, “White House Declares ObamaCare Website Fixed, But Problems Persist,” ABC News, 12/1/13)
The Update “Undermines The Administration’s Early Explanation That Unexpected Heavy Volume” Was Responsible For The ObamaCare Website Crash. ”The report also undermines the administration’s early explanation that unexpected heavy volume to HealthCare.gov was largely responsible for the outages consumers faced. The culprit turns out to have been significant software and hardware glitches.” (Devin Dwyer, “White House Declares ObamaCare Website Fixed, But Problems Persist,” ABC News, 12/1/13)