House oversight panel probes health website woes

[November 13, 2013]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Probing whether the White House shares blame for health-care website woes, the House's chief investigator is delving into technical issues behind the dysfunctional rollout of HealthCare.gov.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will explore concerns about online security in the sixth major congressional hearing since President Barack Obama's computerized insurance markets went live Oct. 1 and millions of consumers encountered frozen screens.

Issa also wants to know why the administration required consumers to first create online accounts at HealthCare.gov before they could shop for health plans. That decision runs counter to the common e-commerce practice of allowing anonymous window-shopping. Outside experts say it increased the workload on a wobbly system.

The hearing comes during a week in which the administration is expected to release tightly held enrollment numbers for October. They are believed to amount to only a small fraction of the nearly 500,000 initial signups that officials had projected a month before the trouble-plagued website's launch.

It also could produce one of the more memorable witnesses of the administration's tangle with technology. Henry Chao, a little-known Medicare official, presented an overview of the enrollment system back in the spring, and commented, "Let's just make sure it's not a third-world experience."

Chao is deputy chief information officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which also is leading the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. A career official who earlier helped implement the Medicare prescription drug benefit, he is widely seen as the operational official most knowledgeable about the health care law's online system.

Chao's public comment in March at an insurance industry forum was taken as an edgy joke, and he later joined the parade of administration officials who assured lawmakers that everything was on track for a smooth launch, even as nonpartisan experts from the congressional Government Accountability Office warned that could not be taken for granted.

Issa's investigators have already grilled Chao in a private session that lasted some nine hours. Chao's name appears on a key Sept. 27 document authorizing the launch of the website despite incomplete security testing. But Issa's staff has released materials indicating that Chao was unaware of a memo earlier that month detailing unresolved security issues.

Chao was also involved in the decision not to allow anonymous window-shopping, which is available on most e-commerce sites, including Medicare.gov.

Issa has suggested a political calculation: The administration wanted to avoid consumers experiencing "sticker shock" over premiums, so it first required them to compute tax credits that work like a discount. Government Oversight and Reform Committee Democrats say Chao told investigators the reason was technical: A planned window-shopping feature was full of glitches.

The committee is also expected to hear from Todd Park, the White House chief technology officer.

Issa has launched high-profile investigations of other troubling episodes for the administration, including the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans; the failure of the Solyndra solar power company that received government loans; and the "Fast and Furious" gun-tracking program on the Mexican border.

Separately, the House Homeland Security Committee was also holding a hearing Wednesday on the health care website, focusing on whether personal information is adequately protected.

[Associated Press; By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and LAURIE KELLMAN]

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