“CMS Official: We Still Haven’t Built ’30 to 40 Percent’ of Obamacare’s Web Apparatus, Including Payment Systems,” Guy Benson writes at Townhall:
Remember, the witness here isn’t some random administration lackey. He’s Obamacare’s top IT manager — the same guy who recently testified that he sounded alarm bells back in July that Healthcare.gov was headed for a “plane crash.” He’s also the man who first started muttering publicly about trying to avoid a “third world experience” in March. Speaking of March, an independent consulting firm issued similar warnings around the same time. We’re to believe Obama knew about none of this?
This segment occurs at the 3:15 mark in the video that Guy embedded at the above link:
REP. CORY GARDNER: Well how much do we have to build today, still? What do we need to build? 50 percent? 40 percent? 30 percent?
HENRY CHAO: I think it’s, uh, just an approximation, we’re probably sitting somewhere between 60 and 70 percent because we still have to build…
GARDNER: Wait, 60 or 70 percent that needs to be built, still?
CHAO: Because we still have to build the payment systems to make payments to insurers in January.
GARDNER: Let me get this correct. Sixty to 70 percent of Healthcare.gov still needs to be built?
CHAO: It’s not really about Healthcare.gov — it’s the federally-facilitated marketplace.
GARDNER: The entire system that the American people are being required to rely upon…
CHAO: Healthcare.gov — the online application, verification, determination, plan compare, getting enrolled, generating the enrollment transaction — that’s 100 percent there.
GARDNER: But the entire system is 60 to 70 percent away from being complete.
CHAO: There’s the back office systems, the accounting systems, the payment systems…they still need to be done.
Which begs the following question:
If — as per Chao — payment system still needs to be built, has anybody fully enrolled in Obamacare? https://t.co/9pJI7VTH0Y
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) November 19, 2013
Oh and by the way, assuming they didn’t go all NBC on the recording, the London Daily Mail has audio of President Obama during his conference call yesterday with his fellow community organizers, claiming “more than 100 million Americans have enrolled.”
Add all of the above to the schadenfreudepalooza, then take a few moments to ponder what a fun place the White House must be to work in, right now.
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