22 October 2013

Oops: no one tested the website

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This may not cost her her job, but it's a safe bet that Republicans will have a few questions about it when they finally get the chance to grill Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius next week, according to The Washington Post:
Days before the launch of President Obama's online health ­insurance marketplace, government officials and contractors tested a key part of the website to see whether it could handle tens of thousands of consumers at the same time. It crashed after a simulation in which just a few hundred people tried to log on simultaneously. Despite the failed test, federal health officials plowed ahead.
When the website went live on 1 October 2013, it locked up shortly after midnight, as about two thousand users attempted to complete the first step, according to two people familiar with the project.
Some key testing of the system did not take place until the week before launch, according to a person close to the project. As late as 26 September 2013, there had been no tests to determine whether a consumer could complete the process from beginning to end: create an account, determine eligibility for Federal subsidies, and sign up for a health insurance plan, according to two sources familiar with the project.
Sebelius agreed last night to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on 30 October 2013. The panel will also have an Obamacare-themed panel before that, when they'll hear from several of the companies that are working on the troubled healthcare.gov, including the two main contractors, CGI Federal and Quality Software Services Inc. House Republicans have made it no secret that they are out for blood. While they might not get it in their preferred form— Sebelius' job— Obamacare's stumbling start may give them a much-needed consolation prize: the chance to turn the page from this month's government shutdown and debt-ceiling fight, which has done serious damage to GOP polling numbers.
Rico says it'll be fun to watch the sharks, with her blood in the water...

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