Kathleen Sebelius testifies about US health website
US President Barack Obama's embattled health secretary has apologised to the American people over the botched rollout of his healthcare law's insurance marketplace websites.
Kathleen Sebelius was questioned by a House panel about the 1 October launch.
"You deserve better," Ms Sebelius said, pledging the site would be repaired by the end of November.
The federal and state-run websites had been projected to enrol seven million uninsured Americans in the first year.
"I'm accountable to you for fixing these problems and I'm committed to earning your confidence back," Ms Sebelius said in sworn testimony in the House energy and commerce committee.
'Improving health security'
Since its 1 October launch, the federal marketplace website - akin to a shopping website for health insurance plans - has been plagued by glitches, especially long wait times to sign up and serious flaws on the back end where customers' data are processed and sent to insurance companies.
Ms Sebelius, appointed secretary of health and human services by Mr Obama in 2009, told the committee in prepared remarks that more than 20 million people had visited the website since its launch, but acknowledged the experience was "frustrating" for many Americans.
The Obama administration has declined to provide figures of how many Americans had actually enrolled in new policies through the site and sister sites run by some states, rankling Republicans who accuse it of withholding vital information.
Ms Sebelius said the problems were "fixable" and that changes had already been made to improve the site's speed and reliability. She said the federal government was working with the numerous contractors who built the site, and that the Obama administration projected it would be fully up and running by the end of November.
'Frustrating' glitches with Healthcare.gov
- Long sign-in wait times
- Log-in difficulties
- Insurance account creation problems
- Slow page loads
- Inadequate testing of security controls prior to system launch
- Service outages
- Crashes in data hub linking Obamacare system to Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies
- Inadequate server capacity
Sources: BBC reporting, news media accounts
What is "Obamacare", and why are Republicans against it?
The committee's ranking Democrat, Henry Waxman, acknowledged "the launch of the new website has not gone well" but just as with a prescription drug programme for pensioners enacted under Republican President George Bush, the "early glitches will soon be forgotten".
"We should keep this issue in perspective - the Affordable Care Act is working," he said, using the law's formal name. "It has been improving the health security of millions of Americans for the past three years."
Republican committee chairman Fred Upton called the website "inept", saying that five weeks into enrolment, "the news seems to get worse by the day".
He also questioned why hundreds of thousands of Americans had received letters from their insurance companies saying their policies were being cancelled - despite past assurances from Mr Obama that people who liked their insurance plans would be able to keep them under the health law.
Ms Sebelius rejected that criticism, saying that people whose plans were dropped would have access under the new law to better insurance coverage at comparable rates.
Democrat Frank Pallone, a supporter of the health law, called Republicans' concerns over the cancellation letters a "red herring" and said insurance companies were closing "lousy policies with high prices because they can't compete".
'I'm accountable'
Some Republicans have called for Ms Sebelius' resignation over the issue.
They argue the problems with the website that prevent consumers from signing up reflect broader problems with the healthcare law, which passed in 2010 and which they have sought to repeal or undermine at every turn.
"Hold me accountable for the debacle. I'm responsible," Ms Sebelius told the committee after several members questioned which contractors and Obama administration officials were responsible for issues.
Democrats who support the president's law have also expressed frustration with the rollout, worried that it will poison public opinion on the programme.
The law, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is a defining element of Mr Obama's presidency, analysts say.
Ms Sebelius has travelled around the US in the past weeks to tout the healthcare law's benefits to those not previously covered by their employers or government programmes for the poor and elderly.
Before 1 October, she appeared confident the online health insurance markets - run by some states as well as the federal government - would be ready in time.
Aside from establishing the healthcare.gov health insurance marketplace website and others run by the states, the law increases coverage requirements for insurance firms, mandates that individuals carry insurance or pay a tax penalty, and offers subsidies to assist in the purchase of the insurance.
Amid the fallout, the White House has said it will grant a six-week extension - through 31 March 2014 - in the healthcare law's requirement for individuals to buy insurance or face a tax penalty.
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