Some federal contractors say Obamacare’s online heath insurance marketplace may not run smoothly until after the Dec. 15 deadline to sign up for coverage that begins in January, according to a New York Times story published Sunday.
Administration officials asked contractors last week to see if repairs could be made to the HealthCare.gov website by Nov. 1, according to the Times. The Department of Health and Human Services announced on its website Sunday that it was bringing in the “best and brightest” in a “tech surge” to solve the technical issues the website faces.
But one specialist told the Times that as many as five million lines of code may have to be rewritten for the health care portal to run smoothly. As one person involved in the repairs put it to the newspaper, “the account creation and registration problems are masking the problems that will happen later.”
Republicans have decried the health insurance marketplace’s technical issues, with one GOP senator suggesting that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius resign over the glitchy rollout. President Barack Obama is expected to address the glitches in his Monday speech on his signature health care law.
