Conceding that the health insurance marketplace "has not lived up to the expectations of the American people," administration blog post says it is enlisting the aid of some of tech's "best and brightest." October 20, 2013 5:57 PM PDT Screen grab of the main Web site for Healthcare.gov, which crashed for a while on the first day of enrollment for health care coverage. (Credit: CBS) The Obama administration has promised a "tech surge" to tackle the myriad technical issues that have plagued HealthCare.gov, acknowledging that the online health insurance marketplace "has not lived up to the expectations of the American people." "Our team is bringing in some of the best and brightest from both inside and outside government to scrub in with the team and help improve healthcare.gov," the administration said in a 600-word post that was published Sunday on the Web site of the US Department of Health and Human Services. "We're also putting in place tools and processes to aggressively monitor and identify parts of healthcare.gov where individuals are encountering errors or having difficulty using the site." Related stories Obama on HealthCare.gov bugs: Patience, even Apple has issues After teen is shot, mom allegedly goes first to WebMD Y Combinator's first nonprofit aims to crowdfund health care The post did not give any hint who the administration might have in mind for the job. CNET has contacted HHS for comment on the matter and will update this report when we learn more. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that a group of Presidential Innovation Fellows visited the Herndon, Va., facility of CGI Group, the IT contractor behind most of the online marketplace. The fellows are private-sector technology innovators who are paired with government tech experts for brief "tours of duty" at government agencies. The launch of HealthCare.gov on October 1 was met with complaints of bugs and slow load times that prevented millions of people from searching for coverage. While acknowledging that software glitches hobbled the system, the White House has not offered specifics on what crippled the online system. The president is expected to address the issues during an event in the White House Rose Garden on Monday.
Conceding that the health insurance marketplace "has not lived up to the expectations of the American people," administration blog post says it is enlisting the aid of some of tech's "best and brightest."
Screen grab of the main Web site for Healthcare.gov, which crashed for a while on the first day of enrollment for health care coverage.
(Credit: CBS)
The Obama administration has promised a "tech surge" to tackle the myriad technical issues that have plagued HealthCare.gov, acknowledging that the online health insurance marketplace "has not lived up to the expectations of the American people."
"Our team is bringing in some of the best and brightest from both inside and outside government to scrub in with the team and help improve healthcare.gov," the administration said in a 600-word post that was published Sunday on the Web site of the US Department of Health and Human Services. "We're also putting in place tools and processes to aggressively monitor and identify parts of healthcare.gov where individuals are encountering errors or having difficulty using the site."
Related stories
- Obama on HealthCare.gov bugs: Patience, even Apple has issues
- After teen is shot, mom allegedly goes first to WebMD
- Y Combinator's first nonprofit aims to crowdfund health care
The post did not give any hint who the administration might have in mind for the job. CNET has contacted HHS for comment on the matter and will update this report when we learn more.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that a group of Presidential Innovation Fellows visited the Herndon, Va., facility of CGI Group, the IT contractor behind most of the online marketplace. The fellows are private-sector technology innovators who are paired with government tech experts for brief "tours of duty" at government agencies.
The launch of HealthCare.gov on October 1 was met with complaints of bugs and slow load times that prevented millions of people from searching for coverage. While acknowledging that software glitches hobbled the system, the White House has not offered specifics on what crippled the online system.
The president is expected to address the issues during an event in the White House Rose Garden on Monday.
