‘A Miserable 5 Weeks,’ a Resignation and Other HealthCare.gov News
Follow key reporting on the Obama administration’s signature policy initiative.
The rocky rollout of HealthCare.gov, the website for people to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, has garnered a lot of attention from the media as well as technology analysts. Here's our daily roundup of some of the key reports you may have missed:
- ‘A Miserable Five Weeks’: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius summed up the HealthCare.gov launch this way: "There is no excuse for what has been a miserable five weeks."
- Postpone It? Sebelius also said delaying the Obama administration’s signature policy initiative known as Obamacare is not an option. Earlier in the day health insurer Humana Inc. predicted the administration would have to extend enrollment deadlines as a result of the technical glitches, according to Reuters. That doesn’t seem impossible: Sebelius also reportedly said, “It is a pretty aggressive schedule to get to the end of the punch list by the end of November.” The site is supposed to operate smoothly by Nov. 30.
- Failed Launch’s First Casualty? The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ chief information officer is stepping down, effective Nov. 15. It’s not clear how Tony Trenkle was involved with Healthcare.gov, Government Health IT reports, but he appears to be part of the team that in September decided to delay a full security control assessment of the site.
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