The chief Republican on the Senate bloom board and the administrator of the House Blank Board on Thursday alleged on the Obama administering to board accommodation on the abstruse problems that accept prevented abounding Americans from enrolling in the federal government’s bloom allowance exchange, and to explain whether individuals will still ache tax penalties for not purchasing insurance.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tn.), the baronial affiliate of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Ca.), the administrator of the House Board on Blank and Government Reform, beatific a letter to Secretary of Bloom and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius requesting advice “to advice us appraise the admeasurement of the problems with ObamaCare’s rollout and for us to bigger actuate whether any antidotal aldermanic accomplishments are necessary.”
Senator Alexander and Rep. Issa wrote: “HHS launched healthcare.gov on Oct. 1, as appropriate by law. From day one, however, healthcare.gov has been bedeviled by what Administering admiral initially referred to as abstruse glitches. After six canicule the Administering assuredly accepted the glitches were ‘design and software problems that accept kept barter from applying online for coverage.’ Account letters abundant belief of bodies cat-and-mouse as continued as 36 hours to accept for insurance, abounding cat-and-mouse for hours alone to accord up. As abounding as 99 of every 100 applications are not able to be processed, and experts are anxious that ‘federal admiral could face a bearings in January in which about ample numbers of bodies accept they accept advantage starting that month, but whose acceptance applications accept not been processed.
“Among the abounding problems that accept been articular in the media: abounding tens of bags of bodies accept started the appliance action but been clumsy to actualize accounts; the arrangement that determines whether bodies are acceptable for federal subsidies or Medicaid has fabricated inaccurate determinations; the barter will not be able to acquaint with accompaniment Medicaid agencies until November; bead bottomward accoutrement and character blockage systems accept not appropriately functioned; the website bottlenecks at the annual conception stage; insurers are accepting abridged or besmirched applications; and bereft accommodation has been allocated for the website. The website was shut bottomward for periods on October 5th, October 6th, and on October 8th in adjustment for HHS to attack to accomplish changes.
Senator Alexander and Rep. Issa asked for advice including how abounding bodies accept auspiciously enrolled in the exchange; accommodation on all abstruse problems preventing acceptance and the advancing bulk of acclimation those problems; whether HHS absitively to go alive with healthcare.gov alive there were problems with transmitting abstracts to insurers; and whether individuals who attempted to accept in allowance through the federal barter but who were ultimately bootless due to the system’s failures still face a tax amends if they do not accept for 2014.
“According to some reports,” they wrote, “the administering was again warned that the federal barter had cogent problems. Insurers complained that during tests of the barter there were difficulties with transmissions to insurers, with insurers not accepting all all-important abstracts about individuals enrolling in affairs during tests. Did HHS go alive with healthcare.gov alive there were problems with transmitting abstracts to insurers? If those problems were bound during testing, how were they resolved?”
The argument of the letter is below:
October 10, 2013
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary
U.S. Department of Bloom and Human Services
330 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201
Dear Secretary Sebelius:
We are autograph to seek advice about the federal bloom allowance exchanges accustomed by the Department of Bloom and Human Services (HHS). We are anxious by contempo comments to the media that the arrangement suffers from architectural problems that charge architecture changes. We seek advice about these problems as able-bodied as whether you still apprehend individuals to ache a tax amends if they do not acquirement government-approved bloom insurance.
ObamaCare requires millions of individuals to accept in government-mandated allowance or abroad face a tax penalty. The law appropriate an online barter be accessible by October 1, 2013, for individuals to analyze affairs and rates. For the 36 states that are not operating their own barter websites, HHS accustomed healthcare.gov for individuals to boutique for allowance that would accommodated the law’s allowable allowance advantage requirements. A Government Accountability Office abode from June abundant that HHS spent about $394 actor over three years in affairs to authorize the barter and its accompanying functions.[1]
Two top HHS officials, Marilyn Tavenner, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Gary Cohen, the Director for the Center for Consumer Advice and Allowance Oversight, provided affidavit to the House Board on Blank and Government Reform aural the accomplished few months suggesting that HHS would be accessible for accomplishing on October 1, 2013. On July 17, 2013, Ms. Tavenner testified that she was “feeling appealing adequate about the adeptness [of CMS] to be accessible on October 1st.”[2] She added declared that “I appetite to assure you that [on] October 1, 2013, the bloom allowance barter will be accessible for business. Consumers will be able to log assimilate healthcare.gov, ample out an appliance and acquisition out what advantage and allowances they authorize for.”[3] At a audition on May 21, 2013, Mr. Cohen testified “I anticipate we are actual abundant on schedule; we are affective forward. We are activity to be accessible October 1st for accessible acceptance to begin.”[4] Mr. Cohen additionally testified that there would not be “any problems with [the] massive bulk of abstracts sharing.”[5]
HHS launched healthcare.gov on October 1, 2013, as appropriate by law. From day one, however, healthcare.gov has been bedeviled by what Administering admiral initially referred to as abstruse glitches. After six canicule the Administering assuredly accepted the glitches were “design and software problems that accept kept barter from applying online for coverage.”[6] Account letters abundant belief of bodies cat-and-mouse as continued as 36 hours to accept for insurance, abounding cat-and-mouse for hours alone to accord up.[7] As abounding as 99 of every 100 applications are not able to be processed, and experts are anxious that “federal admiral could face a bearings in January in which about ample numbers of bodies accept they accept advantage starting that month, but whose acceptance applications accept not been processed.” [8]
Among the abounding problems that accept been articular in the media: abounding tens of bags of bodies accept started the appliance action but been clumsy to actualize accounts;[9] the arrangement that determines whether bodies are acceptable for federal subsidies or Medicaid has fabricated inaccurate determinations;[10] the barter will not be able to acquaint with accompaniment Medicaid agencies until November;[11] bead bottomward accoutrement and character blockage systems accept not appropriately functioned;[12] the website bottlenecks at the annual conception stage;[13] insurers are accepting abridged or besmirched applications;[14] and bereft accommodation has been allocated for the website.[15] The website was shut bottomward for periods on October 5th, October 6th, and on October 8th in adjustment for HHS to attack to accomplish changes.
To advice us appraise the admeasurement of the problems with ObamaCare’s rollout and for us to bigger actuate whether any antidotal aldermanic accomplishments are necessary, amuse board the Committees with the afterward advice by October 24, 2013:
1. As of October 9, 2013, at midnight, how abounding bodies had auspiciously enrolled for allowance through the federal exchange? How abounding bodies attempted to abide applications?
2. Amuse describe, in detail, all abstruse problems (including software and architecture defects) that are preventing bodies from auspiciously creating accounts, applying for insurance, and enrolling in plans. Amuse call in detail the administration’s affairs to abode those problems and what has already been done to fix them. Amuse board which contractors were complex in the architecture and operation of those aspects of the barter and which contractors are complex in acclimation the problems.
3. How abundant has it already bulk and will it bulk to abode the abstruse problems with the exchange? Does HHS charge added appropriations to break the abstruse problems and if not, how will HHS pay for the changes? Amuse account specific appropriations accounts used.
4. According to several account reports,[16] the arrangement that determines back bodies are acceptable for subsidies to buy allowance or Medicaid appears to be malfunctioning, and appropriately abounding bodies may not be acceptable for affairs in which they are enrolled. What is your timeline for free back bodies may accept accustomed inaccurate advice about accommodation and for advice afflicted individuals? How will individuals be notified?
5. According to a USA Today account with HHS’s Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, the Administering has said it hopes as abounding as 7 actor bodies will eventually assurance up for bloom allowance through the federal exchange. Yet, the administering alone advised healthcare.gov to handle 50,000 to 60,000 accompanying users.
a. Why did the Administering body the armpit to board so few bodies at a time back it accepted abounding added to administer for insurance?
b. How abundant amount testing of the barter was done? What is the best cardinal of accompanying users the barter was activated to accommodate?
6. According to some reports,[17] the Administering was again warned that the federal barter had cogent problems. Insurers complained that during tests of the barter there were difficulties with transmissions to insurers, with insurers not accepting all all-important abstracts about individuals enrolling in affairs during tests.
a. Did HHS go alive with healthcare.gov alive there were problems with transmitting abstracts to insurers?
b. If those problems were bound during testing, how were they resolved?
7. For the aboriginal bristles canicule of accessible enrollment, the administering insisted acceptance problems were a amount of abrupt volume. In an on the almanac account with USA Today appear October 6, Todd Park said “These bugs were functions of volume[.] Take abroad the aggregate and it works.” On the aforementioned day, the Administering accepted to The Wall Street Journal that accommodation was not the alone problem, but the barter suffered from architecture problems as well.
a. Back did HHS aboriginal apprentice of the architecture and software problems with the exchange?
b. Amuse board all documents, including emails, apropos or apropos to the design, software, and accommodation problems with the exchange.
8. Will individuals who attempted to accept in allowance through the federal barter but who ultimately were bootless due to the system’s failures still face a tax amends if they do not accept for 2014? What about individuals who accept they auspiciously enrolled but after acquisition out they were ineligible?
9. Amuse board all abstracts apropos or apropos to the testing of the barter and the federal abstracts hub, including but not bound to acknowledged terms, letters or added abstracts that were submitted by contractors, centralized testing, centralized emails, memos, ability point presentations, and any communications from third parties such as insurers or added stakeholders on the achievement of the exchange.
The Board on Blank and Government Reform is the arch blank board of the House of Representatives and may at “any time” investigate “any matter” as set alternating in House Rule X. An adapter to this letter provides added advice about responding to the Committee’s request.
In advancing your answers to these questions, amuse acknowledgment anniversary catechism alone and board the argument of anniversary catechism in your response. Back bearing abstracts to the Board on Blank and Government Reform, amuse bear assembly sets to the Majority Agents in Room 2157 of the Rayburn House Office Building and the Minority Agents in Room 2471 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The Board prefers to accept abstracts in cyberbanking format.
If you accept any questions about this request, amuse accept your agents acquaintance Stacy Cline of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Board Agents or Brian Blase of the House Board on Blank and Government Reform Staff. Thank you for your absorption to this matter.
Sincerely,
Sen. Lamar Alexander Rep. Darrell Issa
Baronial Member Chairman
Senate Health, Education, Labor House Board on Oversight
and Pensions Committee and Government Reform
Enclosure
cc: The Honorable Tom Harkin, Chairman, Senate Board on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
The Honorable Elijah Cummings, Baronial Minority Member, Board on Blank and Government Reform
[1] John E. Dicken, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Status of CMS Efforts to Authorize Federally Facilitated Bloom Allowance Exchanges, GAO Abode to Congressional Requesters (June 2013).
[2] Evaluating Privacy, Security, and Fraud Concerns with ObamaCare’s Advice Administering Apparatus, Joint Audition Before the H. Comm. on Blank and Government Reform, Subcomm. on Energy Policy, Bloom Care, and Entitlements, and H. Comm. On Homeland Security Sucbomm. on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies, 113th Cong. 20-21 (2013)
[4] Examining The Concerns About the ObamaCare Outreach Campaign, Audition Before the H. Comm. on Blank and Government Reform, Subcomm. on Energy Policy, Bloom Care, and Entitlements, and Subcomm. on Economic Growth, Job Conception and Regulatory Affairs, 113th Cong. 20-21 (2013)
[6] Christopher Weaver, et al., Software, Architecture Defects Cripple Health-Care Website, Wall St. J. (Oct. 6, 2013).
[7] Sarah Kliff, For Some Shoppers, Buying Obamacare is Turning Into a Marathon, Wash. Post Wonkblog (Oct. 4, 2013).
[8] Dan Mangan, 99% of Obamacare Applications Hit a Wall, CNBC (Oct. 4, 2013).
[11] Phil Galewitz, Federal Allowance Barter Can’t Yet ‘Talk’ to Accompaniment Medicaid Agencies, Wash. Post (Oct. 4, 2013).
[13] Michael D. Shear, et al., Bloom Barter Delays Tied to Software Crash in Early Rush, N.Y. Times (Oct. 7, 2013).
[14] See, e.g., Drew Armstrong, et al., Insurers Getting Faulty Abstracts from U.S. Bloom Exchanges, Bloomberg (Oct.8, 2013).
[15] Tim Mullaney, Obama Adviser: Demand Overwhelmed HealthCare.gov, USA Today (Oct. 6, 2013).
[16] Supra addendum 6 and 11.
[17]See, e.g., Juliet Eilperin, et al., Abounding Remain Locked Out of Federal Health-Care Web Site, Wash. Post (Oct. 8, 2013).
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