For the first time, someone in the Obama administration apologized for the problem-plagued Obamacare website. Marilyn Tavenner also said on Tuesday that the online troubles were being resolved and the overall program was working, albeit slower and less successfully than hoped. In the first congressional testimony from a government official on the botched launch of HealthCare.gov, the head of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told the House Ways and Means Committee that the "vast majority" of consumers would be able to successfully use the site by the end of November. "I want to apologize to you that the website does not work as well as it should," she said, adding that HealthCare.gov "can and will be fixed."
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Sebelius to testify that initial consumer experience is frustrating, unacceptable
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Data hub behind website experiencing an outage, officials say late Tuesday
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Committee hearing includes fierce partisan exchanges
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A top Democrat says his party was imprecise in selling health care law
Marilyn Tavenner
@placeholder reports to Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who has come under fire for the problems that plagued the introduction of the enrollment website.
Obamacare
But she will also defend @placeholder, according to prepared remarks.
Sebelius
We will address these initial and any ongoing problems, and build a website that fully delivers on this promise of the Affordable Care Act," @placeholder is expected to say.
Obama
In an exclusive interview last week, the health secretary told CNN that @placeholder didn't know of the problems with the Affordable Care Act's website until after its troubled launch on October 1.
Marilyn Tavenner
@placeholder responded that some insurers changed or discontinued plans that failed to meet the Obamacare requirements, even though present coverage could still be offered in some cases under a "grandfather" provision in the legislation, despite lacking the full benefits of the reforms.