Obama to address health care glitches

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Despite widespread problems, the White House has yet to fully explain what went wrong with the online system consumers have been using in attempts to sign up for coverage.

Administration officials initially blamed a high volume of interest from ordinary Americans for the frozen screens that many people encountered. Since then, they have also acknowledged problems with software and some elements of the system's design.

Interest in the insurance markets appears to continue to be high. Officials said about 19 million people have visited the site as of Friday night.

Of the 476,000 applications that have been started, just over half have been from the 36 states where the federal government is taking the lead in running the markets. The rest of the applications have come from the 14 states running their own markets, along with Washington, D.C.

Americans seeking health coverage through the ACA must fill out applications before selecting a specific plan. The forms require personal information, including income figures that are used to calculate any subsidies the applicant may qualify for. More than one person can be included on an application.

Obama will directly address the technical problems with the health care websites Monday morning during an event in the Rose Garden, according to the White House. Officials said the president finds the glitches unacceptable and will outline for the public steps the administration is taking to address the troubles.

Obama will be joined during the event by people who have already enrolled in insurance programs through the new exchanges.

An internal memo obtained by HEALTHYINSURANCENEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM showed that the administration projected nearly a half million people would enroll for the insurance markets during the first month.

Officials say they expect enrollments to be heavier toward the end of the six-month sign up window.

Problems with the rollout were largely overshadowed by Republican efforts to force changes to the health care law in exchange for funding the government. That effort failed and the government reopened last week with 'Obamacare' intact.

Some Republicans are now calling for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The White House says it has complete confidence in her. House Republicans have scheduled a hearing next week to look into the rollout problems.

White House allies say they're confident the problems are being addressed.

'There's no question the marketplace website needs some improvement,' said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., one of the architects of the law. 'The administration needs to fix the computer bugs and I'm confident that they're working around the clock to fix the problems.'

Al Jazeera and HEALTHYINSURANCENEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM