ObamaCare Launch Plagued With Glitches

Sebelius compared situation to iOS7 launch yesterday
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 1, 2013 10:06 AM CDT
ObamaCare Launch Plagued With Glitches
Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke in Jacksonville, Fla., on the Affordable Care Act during a visit to the Sulzbacher Center Monday afternoon, September 16, 2013.   (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Bob Self)

As promised, ObamaCare's health insurance exchanges launched today ... but, also as promised, there were glitches galore. Politico reports that users in multiple states were getting error messages and weren't able to sign up for the exchanges, and the federal website was down entirely around 9:30am. Maryland's portal, which was expected to experience few problems because state lawmakers got behind ObamaCare so early, advised residents to come back at noon. Also at that hour, President Obama is holding an ObamaCare event in the Oval Office and then giving a statement in the Rose Garden.

His administration continues to reassure people that the glitches were to be expected. At a Department of Health and Human Services briefing yesterday, Kathleen Sebelius had an especially snappy reply ready in advance, Slate reports: "I clearly have an iPad and I also have an iPhone and about 10 days ago I got the prompt that the operating system had changed," so she upgraded to iOS7, but a few days later she got a message saying, "Now we have a new new upgrade and why don’t you re-upgrade your upgrade," she said. But no one freaked out about that because bug fixes are expected when new software is being rolled out. "Everyone just assumes 'well there's a problem, they'll fix it,'" she said. "We’re building a complicated piece of technology, and hopefully you’ll give us the same slack you give Apple." (More ObamaCare stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X