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Sebelius: Flawed 'Obamacare' site will not go offline Obama promotes embattled healthcare law in Texas
(about 5 hours later)
US President Barack Obama's embattled health secretary has rejected calls from Congress to take the glitch-plagued website of the president's health programme offline, though she acknowledged further work is needed. US President Barack Obama has ventured into the heart of Republican territory to tout his embattled healthcare law, seeking to reassure supporters wary over its troubled rollout.
Kathleen Sebelius was questioned by the Senate finance committee, six weeks after the launch of healthcare.gov. "We are going to get this done," he told a crowd in Dallas, Texas.
"We're not there yet," she said, identifying hundreds of needed repairs. His promise comes amid pressure - even from his fellow Democrats - to delay parts of the law or take its website offline until it can be repaired.
Meanwhile, Mr Obama travelled to Texas to promote the controversial law. Texas Governor Rick Perry said the law was bound for a "Titanic fate".
On Wednesday, committee chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat, suggested the Obama administration take down the online marketplace for Americans to purchase private health insurance until the kinks had been smoothed out. On Wednesday, Mr Obama addressed a crowd of supporters at a Dallas synagogue, Temple Emanu-El, and acknowledged that glitches on the healthcare.gov website, the federal insurance marketplace created under his signature healthcare law, were "frustrating".
"Why not shut down and do it right?" Mr Baucus asked. "I'm the first to say that the first month I've not been happy with," he said of the website, which launched on 1 October.
But Ms Sebelius said such an action "wouldn't delay people's cancer or diabetes or Parkinson's". "Nothing drives me more crazy than the fact that right now, there's great insurance to be had out there, choice and competition, where people can save money for a better product, except too many folks haven't been able to get through the website."
'Aggressive schedule' 'Challenging'
She said "a couple hundred functional fixes" had been identified and that repairs have been made a "priority". Healthcare.gov - akin to a shopping website for health insurance plans - has been plagued with problems, especially long wait times to sign up for an insurance plan and serious flaws on the back end where customers' data are processed and sent to insurance companies.
"We're not where we need to be," she said. "It's a pretty aggressive schedule." "This is like having a really good product in a store, and the cash registers don't work and there aren't enough parking spots and nobody can get through the door," he said. "And so we are working overtime to get this fixed."
Republican members of the Senate panel also repeated calls for Ms Sebelius' resignation. Ms Sebelius, a former governor of Kansas, was appointed secretary of health and human services by Mr Obama in 2009. By the end of November, he said, "you're going to have families all across this great state of Texas who are going to have the security and the well-being of high-quality, affordable health insurance."
"You have said the American people should hold you accountable, which is why today I repeat my request for you to resign," Senator Pat Roberts said. Mr Perry, a hard-line conservative who ran for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2012, called Mr Obama's trip to Texas "a desperate attempt to salvage his ill-conceived and unpopular program".
The governor added that his state needed "flexibility" to implement specific reforms rather than a "one-size-fits-all Washington mandate".
The 1 October launch of the insurance marketplace websites run by the federal and state governments was the culmination of more than three years of political combat in Washington over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by Mr Obama in 2010 and known to both sides as Obamacare.The 1 October launch of the insurance marketplace websites run by the federal and state governments was the culmination of more than three years of political combat in Washington over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by Mr Obama in 2010 and known to both sides as Obamacare.
Considered the largest overhaul of the US healthcare system since the 1960s, it aimed to extend health insurance coverage to the estimated 15% of the US population who lacked it. Those people receive no coverage from their employers and are not covered by US health programmes for the poor and elderly. Aside from establishing the healthcare.gov health insurance marketplace website and others run by the states, the law bolsters 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. It also expands eligibility for the Medicaid government health programme for the poor.
'Costly and inappropriate' But ongoing issues with the website have shaken political confidence in the endeavour.
But Healthcare.gov - 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. 'Not there yet'
In addition, many Americans have been informed their insurance plans were being cancelled because they did not meet the new law's stringent requirements, despite Mr Obama's past insistence that people would be able to keep insurance plans they liked. Earlier on Wednesday, Senate finance committee chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat, suggested the Obama administration take down the healthcare.gov marketplace until the kinks had been smoothed out.
Republicans have seized on that, too, with some going as far as accusing Mr Obama of lying to the public during his campaign for the law's passage. Mr Baucus, a supporter of the health law, suggested that would limit the negative press coverage.
But Mr Obama's health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, told the panel such an action "wouldn't delay people's cancer or diabetes or Parkinson's".
Ms Sebelius did acknowledge that the site required hundreds of repairs and that further work was needed before it was fully operational.
"We're not there yet," she said.
Even as the technical problems have limited Americans' ability to sign up for new health coverage under the law, many other people have been informed that insurance plans they already held were being cancelled because they did not meet the new law's stringent requirements.
Mr Obama had long insisted that people would be able to keep insurance plans they liked.
Republicans have seized on that, with some going as far as to accuse Mr Obama of lying to the public during his campaign for the law's passage.
The Obama administration has declined to say how many Americans have actually enrolled in new policies through the websites, rankling Republicans who accuse it of withholding vital information.The Obama administration has declined to say how many Americans have actually enrolled in new policies through the websites, rankling Republicans who accuse it of withholding vital information.
They argue the website's problems reflect broader issues with the healthcare law.
Republicans view the health law as a costly and inappropriate government intrusion into the healthcare system, and have sought to undo or undermine it at every turn.Republicans view the health law as a costly and inappropriate government intrusion into the healthcare system, and have sought to undo or undermine it at every turn.
Aside from establishing the healthcare.gov health insurance marketplace website and others run by the states, the law bolsters 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. And they argue the website's problems ongoing reflect broader issues with the healthcare law.
It also expands eligibility for the Medicaid government health programme for the poor.
Amid the fallout, the White House has said it will grant a six-week extension - until 31 March 2014 - in the healthcare law's requirement for individuals to buy insurance or face a tax penalty.
On Wednesday Mr Obama travelled to Republican-dominated Texas, where an estimated 23% of residents are uninsured.
The purpose of the trip is to urge Texas Republican leaders to embrace the healthcare law and expand eligibility for the Medicaid programme, according to the administration.