Obamacare How did Obamacare site go so wrong? 5 questions Sebelius must answer 
 
 Oct. 30, 2013 at 3:33 AM ET 
 
 Evan Vucci / AP 
 
 Two down and one to go. House Republicans have battered the Obama administration with a series of hearings digging into how the health-insurance website, an online marketplace where people were supposed to be able to shop, got off to such a bad start. 
 
 The balkiness of the site, its inability to handle the crush of users and its breakdowns at key points, all have critics asking whether it plays straight into Republican accusations that the government cannot be trusted to handle health care. 
 
 Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, apologized outright on Tuesday at a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee. Last week, officers of four of the main government contractors that built and are running different parts of the site, said the final testing had been too rushed — and a CMS spokesperson agreed. 
 
 Now, it’s time for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to take her turn at hearing today. These questions remain unanswered: 
 
 How could the administration not have tested the site until the last two weeks? 
 
 Officials have said repeatedly that they didn’t have time, and that the final tests didn’t indicate any particular trouble. “We had tested the website and we were comfortable with it,” Tavenner said in testimony Tuesday. “We were working in a compressed time frame, for sure.” 
 
 Republicans aren’t buying it. “I want to know why sufficient systems integrated testing was not conducted, and you made the decision to move forward with the website,” said Tennessee Republican Diane Black who, like Tavenner, started her career as a registered nurse. 
 
 Sebelius will certainly be asked that question again and again — and in many different ways. 
 
 Why wasn’t the launch delayed when the problems became clear? 
 
 The site slowed to a standstill almost as soon as it opened just after midnight on Oct. 1. The White House and HHS have said there was a mass onslaught of people signing on — five times as many as anticipated. Millions evidently did try to get on that first day, not just people trying to sign up for insurance, but those who were merely curious as well. 
 
 Tavenner has admitted that CMS wasn’t aware of the depth of the problems in the first day or two. But Sebelius will have to answer for why not. 
 
 Will people still have time to sign up? 
 
 The White House and HHS have both pledged that the site will be working smoothly for “the vast majority” of users by the end of November. Jeff Zients, a management expert who’s been appointed to fix the website while he’s waiting to take over as the chief White House economic adviser next year, says little fixes are being made day by day. 
 
 "We are bringing in people from both inside and outside government to scrub in with the team and help improve HealthCare.gov," Sebelius says in her prepared testimony. 
 
 But Republicans and Democrats alike say they’re skeptical. “You have to acknowledge this initial experience has done some damage to Americans’ confidence,” said Pennsylvanian Democrat Allyson Schwartz, a Ways and Means committee member who’s a solid supporter of the Affordable Care Act. 
 
 HHS keeps repeating that there’s a six-month open enrollment period with plenty of time to get people signed up even if the site is glitchy. But if CMS and HHS missed all the problems that have marred the site so far, Sebelius will be hard-pressed to persuade her critics that the new team of experts brought in to fix the problem will do a better job. 
 
 How can we trust that other aspects of the site are working, like the subsidy calculator? 
 
 The health-insurance marketplace website is extremely complicated — one of the most complex projects ever undertaken, according to Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president at CGI Federal Inc., a chief contractor. Users have to create an account and provide large amounts of personal information, including date of birth and social security number, so that the program can check this against databases at the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration and other government departments and agencies. 
 
 Given the complexity, supporters and critics alike are worried that people may not know a mistake has been made in calculating a government subsidy, for instance, or even whether all family members are covered by an insurance policy, until it’s too late. 
 
 
 
 Why haven’t you been more open about the problems? 
 
 HHS has refused from the beginning to publicly name all the contractors involved on the site, and will not name the “A-team” of experts brought in to fix the problem. Members of Congress have been so frustrated by this that they’ve subpoenaed tech companies and even sent letters randomly to large companies, such as Microsoft, asking if they were involved. 
 
 Microsoft answered one such letter last week. “To the best of our knowledge, no Microsoft employee has provided technical services or technical advice to the federal government or federal contractors concerning the challenges associated with the launch of the Healthcare.gov website,” one company lawyer, Robert Kelner of Covington and Burling, LLP, wrote the Ways and Means Committee last week. 
 
 Only after three weeks of criticism and an editorial in the New York Times by former White House health adviser Ezekiel Emanuel did CMS start daily briefings on the problems and what is being done to fix them. 
 
 
 
 “Given the disappointing rollout of the Web site, Americans are justifiably suspicious,” Emanuel wrote. “Starting now, the administration needs to initiate a concerted effort to win back the public’s trust. 
 
 CMS officials have said they don’t want contractors distracted from their job. But Congress will certainly want Sebelius to explain why this doesn’t look like a cover-up. 
 
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 Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is expected to be grilled Wednesday when she becomes the highest-ranking official to testify about the problems plaguing the HealthCare.gov website as well as questions surrounding the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Here are four of the questions she is likely to have to answer. 
 
 
 
 1. When did she find out about the problems with the website? 
 
 Last Friday in Austin, Texas, Sebelius was asked at what point did she realize the system wasn’t going to operate the way it was envisioned. 
 
 “Well actually I didn’t realize it wouldn’t be operating optimally before the launch. I think we knew that if we had had another six months we would probably test further, but I don’t think that anyone fully realized that both volume caused problems, but volume also exposed some problems.” 
 
 Andrew Slavitt from the contractor QSSI testified last week before a congressional committee the company noted software problems before the launch. Cheryl Campbell, an executive of a different contractor CGI, told the same hearing top officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the part of the Department of Health and Human Services responsible for setting up the site and implementing the law, were continually briefed. CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner told the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday “We had tested the website, and we were comfortable with its performance.” So what did HHS officials know about any problems and were White House officials notified of any problems? 
 
 In an interview with CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta last week, Sebelius was asked when President Obama first knew of the problems. “I think it became clear fairly early on, the first couple of days...” Gupta then asked: not before that? She answered “no sir.” 
 
 2. Why wasn’t more testing done? 
 
 Contractors working on the website say they warned CMS officials about some of the problems they were seeing and that only two weeks was allotted for full testing before the Oct. 1 launch. QSSI's Slavitt said during his testimony last week the company had informed CMS more testing was necessary and added "months would have been nice." However, none of these red flags were raised by contractors or the government in a congressional hearing in September. 
 
 Some of the most comprehensive system testing came just weeks before the Oct. 1 launch, and the Washington Post has reported at that time problems were detected. 
 
 Officials from several contractors said it was CMS’ decision to go ahead and go live with the site. 
 
 Sebelius and other administration officials have blamed the initial volume as a major reason for the inability of people to set up accounts and use the site, although other problems have been reported as ongoing, such as bad enrollment information being sent to insurance companies. 
 
 “We tested to a level that was five times the level that Medicare.gov, a well-known operating website, had ever had. We thought if you increase that volume five times that’s probably the maximum hit you would get at one time particularly with a brand new site,” Sebelius said last week. “We were just wildly incorrect. Numbers so far exceeded that now there are very specific diagnostics in place.” 
 
 She told CNN’s Gupta that if “we had an ideal situation and could have built the product in, you know, a five-year period of time, we probably would have taken five years. But we didn't have five years. And certainly Americans who rely on health coverage didn't have five years for us to wait. We wanted to make sure we made good on this final implementation of the law.” 
 
 Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is holding Wednesday's hearing, said "The testing was so poor ... in essence, it's like contractors building a house, but the guy building the first level, the first story didn't know that the basement is on the next lot. I mean, there was just no connectivity. We heard those complaints from a number of different private sides. But at the end of the day, this was not ready. It's been a disaster in the making," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the Situation Room. 
 
 3. How much will the fixes cost? 
 
 HHS officials have not said how much the fixes to HealthCare.gov may cost. When CMS announced on Friday QSSI was being brought on as the general contractor overseeing the changes, officials said the company's original contract was being expanded but would not say how much more it may be paid. Also CMS officials have repeatedly refused to divulge information about who is doing the "tech surge" which is bolstering the existing staff working on the site to improve the technical capabilities and operations. 
 
 "We are bringing in people from both inside and outside the government to scrub in with the team and help improve HealthCare.gov," Sebelius says in her prepared testimony. 
 
 Upton said she will also be pressed on how much this will cost. "We know it's in the hundreds of millions of dollars what they've spent so far. We don't know if there are penalties that are going to be imposed because they didn't get this thing done right. We have no clue what the additional cost will be to try and get it right as the secretary said by the end of next month. We'll try to get an answer to that," he told CNN. 
 
 4. What will she say to those whose policies are being cancelled? 
 
 Upton claims millions of people are receiving notices their current insurance policies are being cancelled because they don't comply with minimum standards set by the Affordable Care Act. These are people who have individual policies - not ones under their employer which is the vast majority of Americans or have Medicaid or Medicare. The Obama Administration estimates about 5% of the nation have individual policies which often have less generous coverage, such as not including hospital or mental coverage, as well as higher deductibles making them much cheaper. 
 
 The White House was criticized Tuesday by Republicans because President Obama had often said that people who like their insurance policies and want to keep them will be able to. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney fought back against that criticism saying if people had their plans before the Affordable Care Act was passed they are "grandfathered in" - meaning by law they can keep them. For others who have obtained this insurance after Obamacare became law, those are the plans that are subject to possible cancellation. 
 
 Sebelius is likely to get a question similar to one posed by Upton on CNN on Tuesday saying those facing cancellation should be given more time to enroll in an alternative plan. "Why not allow them to have that choice for the next year knowing that this roll out has been so poorly designed?" 
 
 Her response could mirror what Carney said on Tuesday: these people deserve better coverage as soon as possible. "Those are the Americans who have been most subject to the wild vagaries of the system as it existed before the Affordable Care Act, who at the drop of a hat could have lost coverage or been told that their premiums were doubling, or that they would have no longer been able to get coverage for a specific condition because it was preexisting. All that changes come January 1st. " 
 
 CNN's Adam Aigner-Treworgy contributed to this story ||||| HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will read almost exactly the same testimony to Congress Wednesday about the fumbled HealthCare.gov launch as another top Obama administration official offered Tuesday. 
 
 Sebelius’s eight pages of prepared testimony for the House Energy and Commerce Committee matches nearly word-for-word testimony delivered by CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to Ways and Means on Tuesday. 
 
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 reset Sebelius defends herself against calls for resignation Tavenner apologizes for glitches 
 
 In both written statements, the officials acknowledge that the website hasn’t met expectations but say the administration is taking major steps to improve it. 
 
 Neither testimony includes an apology for the bungled launch—but Tavenner verbally apologized at the hearing Tuesday morning. 
 
 “I want to apologize to you that the website is not working as well as it should,” she said, offering the most direct apology yet from such a high level administration official. “I want to assure you that HealthCare.gov can be fixed, and we are working around the clock to give you the experience that you deserve.” 
 
 Neither offers new insight into way the website’s glitches have blocked millions of Americans from being able to enroll in insurance plans on the new exchanges. 
 
 “Today, more individuals are successfully creating accounts, logging in and moving on to apply for coverage and shop for plans,” both statements say. “We are pleased with these quick improvements, but we know there is still significant, additional work to be done. We continue to conduct regular maintenance nearly every night to improve the consumer experience.” 
 
 More than half of both testimonies praise other components of the Affordable Care Act like insurance benefits and premium subsidies. 
 
 “While we are working around the clock to address problems with HealthCare.gov, it is important to remember that the Affordable Care Act is much more than purchasing insurance through HealthCare.gov,” the statements say. ||||| Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speaks at a news conference in Chicago (Photo: AP/Al Podgorski, Chicago Sun Times) Story Highlights Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will appear before House panel on Wednesday 
 
 Despite four tough weeks since ACA roll out, Sebelius maintains Obama's "full confidence" 
 
 Sebelius' allies say she is steeled for tough fight with GOP 
 
 WASHINGTON — Kathleen Sebelius is on the hot seat as the Obama administration battles to rebound from a problem-plagued rollout of the Affordable Care Act, but friends of the embattled Health and Human Services secretary say it's a mistake to count her out. 
 
 In recent days, Sebelius has been lampooned by Saturday Night Live and is facing calls from several Republicans to step down because of the bungled roll out of the online exchange. 
 
 Sebelius is no stranger to difficult fights. During her time as governor in the deep red state of Kansas, she had high-profile battles with state GOP lawmakers over her controversial decision to prevent the expansion of a coal plant and her halting of the merger of two of the region's largest health care providers. 
 
 Despite battles with Republicans on environmental issues, education and health policy during her two terms as governor and as Kansas insurance commissioner, she left office with an approval rating that hovered near 60%. 
 
 "She has been successful because she is level-headed," said Raj Goyle, a former Democratic lawmaker in the Kansas Legislature who worked closely with Sebelius when she was governor. "She's unflappable." 
 
 But as Sebelius prepares to appear before a House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday to discuss problems with the exchange, she faces the most difficult battle of her career. 
 
 Republicans have only stepped up their criticism of her in recent days, seizing on some of her missteps. 
 
 Last week, at an event to tout the Affordable Care Act in Phoenix, she set off a fresh round of GOP criticism after she said those calling for her resignation were "people who I don't work for and who do not want this program to work in the first place." 
 
 Earlier this month, she struggled in an interview on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart to explain the problems with the balky website, which the White House says will be running at full speed by the end of November. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., this week called Sebelius "the laughingstock of America." 
 
 Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican from her home state of Kansas who stood by her side more than four years ago at a White House ceremony when President Obama announced her nomination, was the first lawmaker to call for her resignation. 
 
 Todd Tiahrt, a former GOP congressman from Kansas, said that the call for Sebelius' ouster is merited. 
 
 "Look at a parallel situation in the private sector of a CEO being hired by a board of directors to implement something that they have heavily invested in," Tiahrt said. "If it comes to a disaster, I would venture to guess that the CEO would immediately be withdrawn and fired. " 
 
 Obama, who will head to Boston on Wednesday to discuss the problems with health care implementation while she is being grilled, has stood by Sebelius. The two have long had a warm relationship dating back to his first presidential campaign, where she was an early backer of his run for the White House. Sebelius was also under consideration to be his running mate. White House spokesman Jay Carney has said that Sebelius maintains the president's "full confidence." 
 
 It's not the first time that Obama has stood by Sebelius at a tough moment. Earlier this year, the president appeared to publicly signal support for Sebelius after she drew Republican fire for asking health industry officials to make donations to help with the effort to implement the ACA. 
 
 Soon after reports of the solicitation became public, the president invited Sebelius to join him for one of his regular weekend golf outings — an invitation he has only extended to a handful of women during his presidency. 
 
 Lawmakers outside of Washington have also come to Sebelius' defense. Gov. Steve Beshear, the Democratic governor of Kentucky, has become one of her most impassioned defenders. 
 
 "It is so typical of Washington, D.C., that when something goes wrong the first thing that the critics do is yell for somebody's firing or yell for somebody's scalp," Beshear said. 
 
 Forgotten in all the criticism, Beshear said, is that there were also problems with the rollout of Medicare in 1960s and more recently with implementation of the prescription drug benefit known as Medicare Part D. In time, kinks were worked out and the programs remain popular. 
 
 During her time in Kansas, Sebelius earned a reputation nationally of being a consensus-builder, but she had her tough battles with Republicans, said Bob Beatty, a political scientist at the Washburn University in Kansas. 
 
 "In Kansas, for a Democrat to win, you have to have charisma," Beatty said. "But her charisma was not loud in the (New Jersey Gov.) Chris Christie sense. Sebelius' charisma came from the ability to ensure voters that she was competent. Perhaps that quieter charisma doesn't play as well in the face of a national problem like this one." 
 
 In 2007, while serving as governor of Kansas, she made the unprecedented decision to deny a permit for the expansion of a coal power plant based in part on concerns about climate change, kicking off a multiyear battle with the GOP-controlled legislature. 
 
 That same year she ruffled Republicans' feathers when she plainly stated after a devastating tornado all but destroyed the small town of Greensburg, Kan., that the recovery response was slow because vital National Guard equipment was tied up by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
 
 Perhaps the moment in her political career most analogous to the battle she now faces was one that dates back to her time as Kansas' insurance commissioner. 
 
 As the state's top insurance regulator in 2002, she blocked a controversial merger between two health-insurance providers. The for-profit company, Anthem, wanted to take over Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, the state's non-profit entity that covered roughly 45% of Kansans. 
 
 For Anthem, the private company based in Indiana, the merger would have allowed them to spread its risk over a much broader pool of patients. For Blue Cross, the takeover would mean that it wouldn't have to insure everybody, including risky people with bad health, and could be more competitive. 
 
 Goyle said conventional wisdom at the time dictated that she approve the merger. But Sebelius, he said, ultimately looked past the political noise and led a deliberative process in which she followed the facts to the ultimate conclusion that the merger would be bad for Kansans. 
 
 The episode, Goyle said, underscores why he believes she will ultimately emerge from the controversy over the problems with the online exchange. 
 
 "The Blue Cross-Anthem situation is really Exhibit A of her ability to stay focused on the facts and the end goal," Goyle said. "I do not believe for one second that she's worried about the politics or that she thinks about her own standing."
– Kathleen Sebelius is testifying before Congress this morning in eagerly anticipated remarks about problem-plagued HealthCare.gov, but you may not hear anything new. Politico reports that her eight pages of prepared testimony are, almost verbatim, the same as the testimony offered to Congress yesterday by head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Marilyn Tavenner. Of course, that's not stopping anyone from hoping Sebelius will address some questions that remain unanswered. NBC and CNN round up a few: Why wasn't the site tested earlier? Officials have said they were running out of time and tests indicated everything was fine. But Republicans want a much better explanation, and contractors have said they warned CMS that more testing was needed. Why wasn't the launch delayed? Tavenner said yesterday that CMS wasn't aware how bad the problems were at first. The questions for Sebelius: Why not? And when, exactly, did she learn of the problems and how bad they were? Why so secretive? Specifically, why hasn't HHS named the contractors or experts involved with the site? How do we know everything on the site will work correctly? For example, how do we know the subsidy calculator (which uses a complex formula) will accurately calculate an individual's government subsidy? How much is this going to cost to fix? So far, HHS hasn't offered an estimate. Can she explain the millions of people whose current policies will be canceled? Those people will need to switch to a plan that complies with ObamaCare's minimum standards. It's probably not going to be a fun day for Sebelius, but in a profile this week, USA Today points out that she's used to this type of political fight. "She has been successful because she is level-headed," says a colleague from Sebelius' days as governor of Kansas. "She's unflappable."