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 "The 30th of November is not a magic go, no go date. It is a work of
constant improvement. We have some very specific things we know we
need to complete by the 30th and that punch list is getting knocked
out every week," Sebelius told The Associated Press.
Sebelius made stops in Orlando and Miami on Tuesday to address the
fallout over the new health care law's paltry enrollment figures and
continuing website problems.
The Obama administration has staked its credibility on turning
HealthCare.gov around by the end of this month. From the president
on down, officials have said the website will be running smoothly
for the "vast majority of users" by Nov. 30, but have been vague
about what that actually means.
The definition has morphed in the past few weeks. At an Oct. 30
congressional hearing, Sebelius projected "an optimally functioning
website" by the end of November. On Nov. 5, Marilyn Tavenner,
administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,
testified that the site would be "fully functioning" by that date.
Last week, President Barack Obama said the "the improvement will be
marked and noticeable."
On Tuesday, Sebelius told the AP it would work for most users by the
end of the month, but would still require fixes because of the
magnitude of the first-of-its-kind project.
"We recognize that there will still be periodic spikes, glitches,
whatever that people will experience," she said.
When asked why officials pushed ahead with the Oct. 1 launch date
despite warnings the site hadn't been properly tested, Sebelius said
they were hoping to give consumers as much time as possible to
enroll before coverage begins in January.
"We were hoping to maximize that," she said. "Clearly that was a bad
call."
Federal health officials made significant improvements implementing
software fixes over the weekend, mostly dealing with the application
portion, which had stymied many users. More than 90 percent can now
successfully complete their applications, HHS communications
director Julie Bataille said.
Sebelius visited Florida Technical College in Orlando before
stopping at a Miami hospital where a handful of "navigators" were
trying to enroll consumers on the website, but were plagued by
embarrassing messages showing the website was stalled even as
Sebelius stopped and chatted with them.
The secretary has been traveling the country as the Obama
administration has been in damage-control mode, trying to beat back
criticism that could make Americans leery of using it.
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Last week, federal health officials revealed that just 26,794 people
enrolled for health insurance through the federal website during the
first, flawed month of operations, and a total of 106,000 nationwide
— a small fraction of what they had projected. Florida had the
highest enrollment of the three dozen states relying on the federal
website with 3,571 people.
Days later, the House voted to weaken a core component of "Obamacare"
and permit the sale of individual health coverage that falls short
of requirements in the law. More than three dozen Democrats broke
ranks and supported the legislation, a total that underscored the
growing importance of the issue in the weeks since millions of
cancellation notices went out to consumers covered by plans deemed
inadequate under government rules.
In the wake of growing criticism over the cancellations, Obama tried
to make good on a previous promise, saying those who like their
insurance can keep it for one more year. However, the ultimate
decision still lies with insurers and state insurance commissioners.
On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, a panel of computer security experts
raised another fear — that the website is vulnerable to hacking.
They said they wouldn't trust their own personal information to the
site, although they acknowledged they don't have firsthand knowledge
of the system and its architecture.
David Kennedy, head of the Ohio-based TrustedSec, a company that
offers to hack into private systems to determine vulnerabilities,
told the House Science Committee that a cursory look at the website
revealed multiple "exposures" that put it at "critical risk."
Asked about those concerns, Sebelius said: "I feel like it's safe.
Absolutely," adding, "when there have been issues identified or
flagged, it's immediately fixed."
[Associated
Press; KELLI KENNEDY]
Associated Press writer Anne Flaherty in Washington contributed to
this report.
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