OBAMACARE WEB OFFICIAL: 60 TO 70 PERCENT OF WEBSITE STILL UNBUILT

Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) asked Henry Chao, Deputy Chief Information Officer and Deputy Director of the Office of Information Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, about the status of the Healthcare.gov website. Chao revealed that 60 to 70 percent of the Obamacare exchanges website still had to be built. “We’re sitting somewhere between 60 and 70 percent,” Chao said.

“Let me get this correct,” Gardner asked incredulously, “60 to 70 percent of healthcare.gov still needs to be built?” Chao answered, “Healthcare.gov, the online application, verification, determination, plan compare, getting enrolled…that’s 100 percent there.” But he admitted, “There is the back office systems, the accounting systems, the payment systems, they still need to be built.”

Later, Chao claimed that there was 30 to 40 percent remaining to be tested.

Gardner asked how those systems would be tested. “In the same exact manner we tested everything else,” Chao answered. He stated that testing would be “ongoing” based on bill schedule.

Via: Breitbart

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House leaves for two weeks, GOP promises Obamacare scrutiny on return

House Republicans on Thursday began a nearly two-week recess as they sought to solidify their political standing at home and clear the way for intense public scrutiny of Obamacare’s troubled rollout.

Still smarting from a politically damaging government shutdown that hogged the spotlight and obscured problems with the Affordable Care Act, House Republicans have deliberately shifted strategies. Rather than instigate high-stakes, politically risky confrontations with President Obama, they have embraced a more traditional, low-key approach that focuses on achieving incremental conservative reforms. This legislative strategy has a second, equally important purpose: It’s unlikely to distract from the GOP's aggressive investigation into Obamacare’s error-plagued implementation.

“People are focused on how bad Obamacare is. There’s no sense in putting up hyperpartisan bills that take attention away from that,” a senior Republican House aide told the Washington Examiner.

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., described the reoriented House GOP game plan this way: “In many respects, what I would characterize this period as is ... getting back to governing.”

Since the 16-day government shutdown ended on Oct. 17, House Republicans have passed a collection of largely noncontroversial bills like the Retail Investor Protection Act and the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013, among others. None were crafted with an eye toward grabbing headlines and none are the sort that fuel a political movement. But for Republicans, that’s by design.

During the shutdown, public polls showed that voters soured on the Republican Party in part because they viewed the GOP as putting ideology ahead of governing. Because they run the House, Republicans have a responsibility for some of the mundane aspects of running the government, and they have attempted late this month to satisfy that charge while using it as a vehicle to enact conservative reforms that might attract bipartisan support.

Via: Washington Examiner

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[VIDEO] GOP Rep. Tears Into Sebelius: ‘Why Aren’t You Losing Your Health Insurance?’

During Wednesday morning’s House hearing on the Obamacare site, Republican Congressman Cory Gardner (R-CO) and HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius engaged in a highly-contentious debate over why the latter has not enrolled herself in the insurance exchanges established by the law she oversees.

The Republican lawmaker held up a letter from his private health insurer notifying his family that their healthcare policy had been cancelled, as it no longer qualifies under the Affordable Care Act. While scolding Sebelius for the administration’s previous promises that “you can keep your plan,” Gardner asked, “Why aren’t you losing your health insurance? Why aren’t you in the exchange?”

When Sebelius explained that she’s part of the federal employees benefit plan, Gardner pushed harder: “You’re literally in charge of this law. Should you be any different than any of the other Americans out there who are losing their insurance today?”

After some more pressing, Sebelius told the congressman: “I am not eligible for the exchange.”

A baffled Gardner replied: “I went into the exchange. You could decide to drop your coverage of your employer. You have the choice.”

“That is not true, sir,” the HHS secretary responded. “If I have affordable coverage in my workplace, I am not eligible to go into the workplace.”

“With all due respect,” Gardner fired back, “I would encourage you to be just like the American people and enter the exchange and agree to find a way to do that.” Applause broke out in the gallery among several members.

“It’s illegal,” the administration official responded.

Gardner then turned his attention to the infamous “Brosurance” ad used by the Colorado state government to promote the new healthcare law to college-aged males. Holding up the famous poster depicting a college student doing a keg stand, the congressman asked whether Sebelius approves of this sort of advertising. She repeatedly told him she has no authority over what the states do with their promotional materials.

During that exchange, an aide whispered in Gardner’s ear, sending him back to the first topic: “You have the ability to opt out, by the way, as a federal employee,” he said. “You can take the insurance.”

Watch below, via Fox:

Via: Mediaite.com

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