The
widespread problems with the ObamaCare website are generating a
new backlash in Congress, with Sen. Marco Rubio planning to introduce
legislation that would delay the health law's individual mandate until
the technical failures are addressed.
The Florida senator discussed the plan Tuesday morning in an
interview with Fox News' "Fox & Friends." He said it would be
"prudent" to delay the requirement on individuals to buy health
insurance -- set to kick in early next year -- until users can
consistently access the main website.
"How are you going to go after people next year ... if the thing
you're forcing them to buy isn't available to buy?" he asked, saying the
site is "not working."
Rubio's plan would delay the mandate until the Government
Accountability Office certifies the system is "up and running and
effectively working for six months, consecutive."
The plan comes as new reports detail the warning signs that may have
been missed before the launch, and the massive undertaking that the tech
team hired to fix the site is confronting.
The administration is now in a scramble to fix the problems that have
prevented many from signing up for health insurance online. Officials
announced Tuesday that former White House budget office chief Jeff
Zients has been brought in as part of the team to address the site.
President Obama on Monday directed the public to apply over the phone or
by mail -- but at the same time, the White House did not rule out
delaying the health law's 2014 requirement on individuals to buy
insurance.
The New York Times,
detailing the scope of the repair project, reported that while
contractors have identified most the problems with the site, the
administration is slow to issue orders. The Times quoted one specialist
as saying 5 million lines of code may have to be rewritten.
The
Washington Post reported
Monday that a test of the website's capability to handle heavy traffic
went wrong just days before the planned launch, when the site crashed
after just a few hundred people tried to log on simultaneously.
The Post also reported that a group of 10 insurers invited to give
advice and test the website urged federal officials not to do a
nationwide launch due to the number of issues with the site. At late as a
week before the launch date, the paper reported, no one had thought to
test whether or not a user could complete the process of signing up for a
health insurance plan through the site.
Meanwhile, a review of the site's technical specifications by
The
Associated Press found a mind-numbingly complex system put together by
harried programmers who pushed out a final product that congressional
investigators said was tested by the government and not private
developers with more expertise.
Project developers who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity --
because they feared they would otherwise be fired -- said they raised
doubts among themselves whether the website could be ready in time. They
complained openly to each other about what they considered tight and
unrealistic deadlines. One was nearly brought to tears over the stress
of finishing on time, one developer said. Website builders saw red flags
for months.
A review of internal architectural diagrams obtained by the AP
revealed the system's complexity. Insurance applicants have a host of
personal information verified, including income and immigration status.
The system connects to other federal computer networks, including ones
at the Social Security Administration, IRS, Veterans Administration,
Office of Personnel Management and the Peace Corps.
President Barack Obama on Monday acknowledged technical problems that
he described as "kinks in the system." He also promised a "tech surge"
by leading technology talent to repair the painfully slow and often
unresponsive website that has frustrated Americans trying to enroll
online for insurance plans at the center of Obama's health care law.
But in remarks at a Rose Garden event, Obama offered no explanation
for the failure except to note that high traffic to the website caused
some of the slowdowns. He said it had been visited nearly 20 million
times -- fewer monthly visits so far than many commercial websites, such
as PayPal, AOL, Wikipedia or Pinterest.
"The problem has been that the website that's supposed to make it
easy to apply for and purchase the insurance is not working the way it
should for everybody," Obama said. "There's no sugarcoating it. The
website has been too slow. People have been getting stuck during the
application process. And I think it's fair to say that nobody is more
frustrated by that than I am."
The online system was envisioned as a simple way for people without
health insurance to comparison-shop among competing plans offered in
their state, pick their preferred level of coverage and cost and sign
up. For many, it's not worked out that way so far.
Just weeks before the launch of HealthCare.gov on Oct. 1, one
programmer said, colleagues huddled in conference rooms trying to patch
"bugs," or deficiencies in computer code. Unresolved problems led to
visitors experiencing cryptic error messages or enduring long waits
trying to sign up.
Congressional investigators have concluded that the government's
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, not private software
developers, tested the exchange's computer systems during the final
weeks. That task, known as integration testing, is usually handled by
software companies because it ferrets out problems before the public
sees the final product.
The government spent at least $394 million in contracts to build the
federal health care exchange and the data hub. Those contracts included
major awards to Virginia-based CGI Federal Inc., Maryland-based Quality
Software Services Inc. and Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
CGI Federal said in a statement Monday it was working with the
government and other contractors "around the clock" to improve the
system, which it called "complex, ambitious and unprecedented."
The schematics from late 2012 show how officials designated a "data
services hub" -- a traffic cop for managing information -- in lieu of a
design that would have allowed state exchanges to connect directly to
government servers when verifying an applicant's information. On Sunday,
the Health and Human Services Department said the data hub was working
but not meeting public expectations: "We are committed to doing better."
Administration officials so far have refused to say how many people
actually have managed to enroll in insurance during the three weeks
since the new marketplaces became available. Without enrollment numbers,
it's impossible to know whether the program is on track to reach
projections from the Congressional Budget Office that 7 million people
would gain coverage during the first year the exchanges were available.
Instead, officials have selectively cited figures that put the
insurance exchanges in a positive light. They say more than 19 million
people have logged on to the federal website and nearly 500,000 have
filled out applications for insurance through both the federal and
state-run sites.
The flood of computer problems since the website went online has been
deeply embarrassing for the White House. The snags have called into
question whether the administration is capable of implementing the
complex policy and why senior administration officials -- including the
president -- appear to have been unaware of the scope of the problems
when the exchange sites opened.
Even as the president spoke at the Rose Garden, more problems were
coming to light. The administration acknowledged that a planned upgrade
to the website had been postponed indefinitely and that online
Spanish-language signups would remain unavailable, despite a promise to
Hispanic groups that the capability would start this week. And the
government tweaked the website's home page so visitors can now view
phone numbers to apply the old-fashioned way or window-shop for
insurance rates without registering first.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee was expected to conduct an
oversight hearing Thursday, probably without Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifying. She could testify on Capitol
Hill on the subject as early as next week.
Uninsured Americans have until about mid-February to sign up for
coverage if they are to meet the law's requirement that they be insured
by the end of March. If they don't, they will face a penalty.
