Emails shed light on serious problems with ObamaCare website before launch

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New docs on WH concerns ahead of ObamaCare site launch

James Rosen reports

Newly released emails between top Obama administration tech officials are shedding more light on the severity of the concerns that were raised before the disastrous rollout of the ObamaCare website, with one official saying “the results are not good” just days before the Oct. 1 launch.

The emails from Sept. 26-30, which were discovered by the House Energy and Commerce Committee as part of its investigation into the troubled Healthcare.gov, highlight troubling results as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officials ran tests on the site.

In a Sept. 26 email to top CMS officials including HealthCare.gov project manager Henry Chao, Akhtar Zaman from the CMS Office of Information Services gave a grim report after three days of performance and stress tests on the website. He cited numerous instances where tests were unsuccessful.

“The results are not good and not consistent at all,” Zaman wrote.

Chao responded to this report by emailing a stern warning to CMS staffers.

“I DO NOT WANT A REPEAT OF WHAT HAPPENED NEAR THE END OF DECEMBER 2005 WHERE MEDICARE.GOV HAD A MELTDOWN (THIS IS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION IF I DIDN’T HAVE IT ALREADY),” he said.

On Sept. 27, acting Director of the CMS Office of Enterprise Management David Nelson delivered Chao more bad news, saying the website’s scripts were failing due to a variety of issues.

“We have not been successful in moving beyond 500 concurrent users filling applications without income verification,” he said.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said the documents are more evidence that the Obama administration went “out of its way” to cover up the chaos behind the scenes at Healthcare.gov.

“The frenzied lead up to October 1, coupled with the inadequate testing and numerous systems failures, reveal an administration that was not up to the job despite over three years to prepare,” Upton said.

Documents released earlier this week by the committee revealed the Obama administration was warned as early as March about potential risks with the implementation of HealthCare.gov. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney also acknowledged on Tuesday that President Obama was briefed at the time.